Dressing the House, Paid Off in the Dark
by AlyssaPierceArrow
Summary: Educated in humane animal training and circus performance, Adeline's unique deformity and mesmerizing act kept her in high demand. But a series of tragic, mysterious, and disastrous events lead to the disbandment of the troupe she called home. Now, she has joined Elsa's Show, and found a place amongst those like her….but will this arrangement lead to contentment? Or further ruin?
1. Chapter 1

The term "Dressing the House" refers to the practice of selling reserved tickets strategically so that all sections of the tent appear filled, even when they are not.  
"Paid Off in the Dark" refers to when circus or carnival performers' salary is paid off the books, in cash.

As far as pairings go...they're going to be complicated, and intentionally so. I hope you enjoy the show!

* * *

Watching the bright bands of sunlight shimmering through the live oaks on the left side of the wide street, Adeline thought she could never tire of the South. But she was certain she could tire of driving. At least, driving alone. The great trees stood sentry at even intervals on both sides of the wide main road, and soon the picturesque, well manicured avenues would give way to dirt country lanes, and she would find the show she sought, the isolated discombobulated village of tents and trailers sequestered behind a mask of attractions. There were less of them now, proper freak shows governed by hard working folks in the old style, and Adeline had promised herself she would never work for anyone who treated her like something to be caged. Adeline detested keeping even Maximus in his cage. She gazed into her rearview mirror compulsively, for perhaps the fiftieth time that day. Images from her past enjoyed accosting her at unwelcome moments, and now Uncle Kurt flashed before her eyes, her mother's laughing face, the electric lights and the bright, bold stripes of the big top. She gripped the steering wheel, twisting her hands tightly around the leather. Then she stopped, hearing now Uncle Kurt's scolding voice in her head. Her valuable hands. She turned up the radio, Helen Forrest's voice soothing her as she coasted down the side road with the window open and her stomach in knots. Adeline hated auditions. She hated approaching unfamiliar management to ask for a job. But it had to be done. There were so few places for her, now. And she had come so far. Jupiter may as well have been Mars. And, as it would turn out…. perhaps it was.

Adeline turned right onto the fair grounds, her stomach having calmed a bit on the approach. The friendly, inviting banners depicting curiosities she had never met, whose images were nevertheless familiar, had been comforting to her. She looked about, pleased to see a number of private tents and carnival attractions in addition to the main freak show tent. But the location and the size of the outfit appeared to leave much to be desired. She was careful to navigate the terrain in such a way as to ensure the least amount of jostling for Maximus who, as ever, had been patient and well behaved in his trailered enclosure. Nervous, Adeline considered the juxtaposing possibilities. Either the show was starved for new acts due to the sparse showing of current troupers, or they were in enough trouble as to be unable to afford contracting additional performers. Finding a spot off to the side, where she assumed she wouldn't be in the way, Adeline parked her truck and took a deep breath, peering at her reflection in her rear view mirror for a moment to steady herself.

Eve, Paul, and Ethel had stopped in the course of their various activities and had gathered together in mutual curiosity. They were watching with interest the enormous set of trailers pulled by the bright blue 1948 Chevy 3100. The generous animal enclosure, barred, with its occupant obscured by curtains through which air could nevertheless flow freely, was followed by an attractively painted traditional caravan with its steps folded up against its back door. The glare of the sun on the windshield obscured the driver of the pickup, but she quickly made herself visible nonetheless when she opened the door and stepped down onto the running board. At first, all they could see were her black and white saddle oxfords and plain white bobby socks, and her dark denim jeans, rolled up above her ankles, military style brass buttons gleaming. When she climbed out, standing up straight in the Florida sunshine, she looked every bit the average rural 1950s girl, in her red and white gingham button up shirt, hair pulled back in a ponytail ending in soft curls, matching mini pompadour fashioned out of her bangs bobby pinned back behind her forehead. She shut the door to the truck and placed a hand flat over her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun. The three continued to watch her with interest, until she turned to look at them and smiled.

"Hi!" She called across the several yards between them

Paul let out a soft whistle, one only Ethel and Eve could hear.

"This one's a dolly in't she?" he remarked.

"Mmmhmmm" Eve assented.

"Ohhhh Boy…." Was Ethel's only reply.

They watched her hurry her way over to them, swinging her hips in the unconscious way she generally did. Despite her performances, she wasn't as slender as many of the high wire girls, or trapeze artists. She was curvaceous, but firm, and porcelain pale, having been intentionally kept out of the sun most of her life. When she was lit up under the big top, the stark paleness of her skin fit the association that was made with her character of the swan, especially if she was wearing one of her white costumes, and performing with her white feather fans. A charming smattering of freckles dotted the round cheeks of her unblemished, angelic face, and a set of wise brown eyes and plentiful lashes complimented her straight nose and soft, symmetrically full lips, enhanced by a pronounced cupid's bow. Made up, she was theatrically stunning, but bare faced as she was now, she was naturally beautiful. Her mother had often thanked the creator, whoever they might be, that her daughter had been so pleasant to look upon, pronounced and obvious as her deformity was, once one bothered to look down at her hands.

Adeline approached the group of three, pleased to see that this troupe included a bearded lady and a giantess, as well as a marvelously tattooed man whose billing she supposed could go in many directions, but who she assumed was "The Illustrated Seal" she saw on one of the banners she'd passed on her way in.

"'Ello there, pre'ey one!" Paul said. "What can we do for ya?"

It was clear this young lady was not a customer, and even should Elsa not have space for her in the outfit, the least they could do was be pleasant while she was here.

Adeline grinned. "If one of you could point me in the direction of management?"

"Come on," Ethel began, gesturing for Adeline to follow "I'll take ya to see Miss Elsa."

"Oh, Thank You," Adeline replied. She pointed back towards her trailer.

"If you could just….wait one moment? While I get my….Maximus."

Ethel nodded curtly, and Adeline hurried back across the grounds. Ethel turned her head over her shoulder and muttered to the other two "Go'n get Jimmy…he'll want to see this."

Adeline opened the passenger's side of the truck and picked up the long, heavy length of chain sitting there, a white, rhinestone studded leather loop on one end, and a snap clip on the other. Then she took the tiny key from her pocket and went around to Maximus' enclosure, opening the lock and swinging the metal door open, brushing the curtain aside.

"Hello, handsome!" Adeline called, peering into the pair of golden eyes peering up at her at the very center of a magnificent, spectacularly fluffy, honey, coffee, and black colored mane. Maximus opened his mouth and let out a belch like grunt, his way of informing Adeline he was happy to see her. She climbed into his enclosure, crouching low so she could place her hand inside his water trough, satisfied to see that the giant block of ice she'd purchased just outside Orlando had not yet fully melted, and his water was still quite sufficiently cold.

"Okay," she said, moving over to crouch next to him and fasten the clip to his thin white collar "let's go meet some people."

She backed up and hopped down backwards onto the ground, leaving the chain slack, and Maximus yawned, rousing himself from his comfortable position on his six inch thick bed to follow his companion. He waited politely at the opening of his trailer for the command, which Adeline gave with a discreet sweep of her hand. He leapt gracefully down onto the ground, all five hundred and twenty pounds of him, standing regally in the sunlight. Adeline leaned down and fluffed his mane carefully, giving him an affectionate scratch on the top of his head. Then they began their slow procession down a well worn footpath towards where the bearded lady was waiting, looking slightly alarmed.

Adeline stopped at a respectful distance from Ethel, attempting to avoid frightening her with Maximus. The bearded lady could not have known his gentle nature, and given that she had likely been part of a great many acts in her time, Adeline did not fault her for having reservations. Often cruel trainers resulted in understandably unpredictable and violent animals, and knowing not Maximus' character, or Adeline's, she understood and respected the distance the bearded lady kept. When Adeline stopped, Maximus stood beside her, waiting.

"It's um…right this way…." Ethel said. She jerked her head in the direction of Elsa's tent, and continued along the path.

Adeline and her lion followed in majestic procession, both acutely aware of the pairs of eyes which were now falling upon them in waves from all directions of the fairgrounds. With her lion beside her, very few were likely to notice her hands. Once there had been Nero, and Titus, and Claudius, Octavian, and Maximus, all of Uncle Kurt's beautiful menagerie performing in tandem. And now, it was just the two. The Swan Girl &amp; The King of the Jungle, as advertised across the beautiful painted banner, which hung lengthwise across her trailer.

She followed until the bearded lady reached an elaborate looking three-peaked tent with what appeared to be three separate rooms.

"Wait here," she instructed, and Adeline obeyed. She returned shortly, shaking her head. "She ain't in there….must be in the main top…c'mon." They followed again, members of the troupe stopping along the path to watch them pass. Before they entered the tent, Ethel pulled the flap back and paused to introduce herself.

"I'm Ethel, by the way. Go on…."

Adeline ducked inside, Maximus maneuvering with grace through the opening beside her. She turned back to give Ethel a big smile once the lady behind her had entered the tent herself. "I'm Adeline."

Ethel nodded to her, and Adeline noticed that the giantess and the man she had spoken with earlier were seated along several benches in front of a stage, where two girls who shared one body were practicing their act. Beside them sat a woman who seemed to be legless, though it was semi dark in the tent and Adeline could not be sure.

"Elsa?" Ethel called, hustling towards long, rectangular table where a slight blonde woman was sitting. Adeline hung back, not wishing to intrude on a rehearsal, or seem presumptuous by making herself at home. She scanned the room. A lovely, tiny Indian woman sat on a stool beside the blonde woman at the table, and had turned around to peer in wonder at the lion. Another woman Adeline could barely see due to the giant tent pole in her line of vision sat to the side playing a piano. A contortionist practiced in the corner.

Adeline waited patiently while Ethel spoke softly in Elsa's ear. As she stood there, a young man ducked into the tent through a flap beside the piano, and she watched his face in amusement when he was visibly taken aback by the lion at the back of the tent. He stared openly at Maximus, impressed by the tremendous size of the animal surprised by the mere fact of his presence. When he scanned over to the person holding the chain, his eyebrows raised, and his eyes beneath them widened. He took on a bit of a cocky, masculine stance, crossing his arms front of him with his hands in view, daring her to look. Adeline was almost certain he had winked at her, but in the light she could not be sure. It was then that the short blonde woman halted the rehearsal with a wave of her hand, and then turned in her chair to beckon to Adeline. The Swan Girl and her lion approached the woman, coming to stand beside her chair.

"Well, it seems we are busy today," Elsa said to Adeline, looking over at Ethel. She had only just agreed to take on Dell and Desiree early that afternoon. Adeline noted her accent, one quite familiar to her.

"But I am afraid we are primarily a freak show…." Elsa lamented, gesturing towards Maximus, to whom she feigned indifference, but with whom she was rather impressed. His behavior was impeccable, his coat shining, his mane lustrous, full and dramatically colored.

"Oh yes, Miss," Adeline said, concerned that should she address the lady before her as Mam, she would be offended, despite her age, and encouraged in her decision by the way Ethel had referred to her as "Miss Elsa."

She slipped her hand through the leather loop at the end of Max's chain, and smiled.

"Which is why I…should show you these…." Adeline lifted her hands and spread her fingers wide.

Visible, even in the sparse light, was the webbing, like that on a swan's feet, between Adeline's fingers, thin, delicate, ending at her second knuckles. Her eyes darted over and met those of the handsome young man still standing by the piano, when his sharp intake of breath broke the silence in the tent. He had been posing with the swagger of James Dean when she approached Elsa, but he had now dropped the façade, and was staring with intensity, open mouthed, at Adeline's hands, still raised on either side of her head. The webbing was generous; Adeline could spread her fingers as wide apart as any with typical hands, when she closed her fingers again the webbing simply folded, resting slack between her fingers. Elsa was staring, too.

Feeling uncomfortable, Adeline broke the silence.

"It's my feet, as well…. though they're not as visible from the stage." Adeline said. "I'm billed as Swan Girl. I perform, as well. Hoop, aerial silks, feather fans, swing…it's not contortion, I haven't the flexibility…and it's not dance…more a kind of gymnastics…I could show you?"

Elsa nodded, still focused on the girl's hands, reaching out to gently take them in her own.

"Yes," Elsa said, a dreamlike quality to her voice. "I think you had better."


	2. Chapter 2

Adeline picked her way through the tall grass surrounding the midway, back towards the main performance tent, barefoot in a pale peach silk robe with a regal looking swan embroidered across the back. Settled in the crook of her right elbow was a shiny, weighted gold hoop, and rolled and tucked under her left arm was one of her heavy promotional banners, tied with a bright red ribbon. She hurried as quickly as she might, not wishing to keep Elsa waiting. When Adeline had rushed off to return Maximus to his enclosure and throw on a costume, she'd heard Elsa snapping at those remaining in the tent to take the table away, and set up a grouping of chairs. Reaching the main tent, she pulled aside the tent flap and ducked inside. The girls were still practicing, so Adeline found a chair off to the side, waiting politely for Elsa to summon her. She sat with her eyes facing forward, attempting to clear her mind, intentionally avoiding the gaze of the young man with whom she had exchanged glances earlier, deliberately ignoring him in order to avoid any lapses in her pre-performance concentration. In many ways, although it was not a formal performance before an audience, auditions before new troupes were more nerve-wracking for Adeline than going on before a full house. Visitors to a show were likely to be delighted by her act simply because it was different, exciting, and new. Most individuals would go their entire lives without meeting someone with syndactyly. An outfit dedicated to exhibition and performance, like a carnival, a circus, or a freak show, was likely to be comprised of individuals who had plenty of experience between them, and plenty of reference with which to make comparisons. Such outfits were also likely to be quite protective of the dynamics already associated with their lineup, and mistrusting, even of their own kind, if the newcomer was unknown to them.

"All right, girls! That's enough for now!" Elsa declared. She had not looked at Adeline once since the girl re-entered the tent, but she had been acutely aware of when she re-appeared. She turned to Adeline now, smiling with an air of sly mystery about her, one Adeline supposed was an integral part of her character. She gestured grandly out in front of her,

"The stage is yours."

Adeline nodded and stood, draping her hoop crosswise on her body, hanging it off her left shoulder and letting it bump against her right hip. Building momentum in her stride, she placed her palms far apart on the stage and hopped up with charming fluidity, landing between them on balls of her feet. She rose to stand at the edge of the stage, her back to all those still in attendance…the stunning three breasted woman at the piano to Adeline's right, the giantess, the twins, Elsa, and the tiny woman beside her, filing her fingernails. And Jimmy.

Adeline pulled her hoop over her head and dropped it to the stage floor with a metallic clatter, and reached into her left pocket to pull out the carefully rolled piece of sheet music stored there. She strode over and presented it to the woman at the piano, holding it out cautiously to see if she would accept it. The woman nodded to her, arranging it at the piano. Quietly, the woman began to practice the notes before her, as Adeline returned to center stage. She reached into her right pocket and took out her half shoes. Normally, a performer wore them covering their toes as well as half of their feet, but due to Adeline's matching webbing on her feet, hers were modified, strips of ballet pink leather with suede padded bottoms, fitting just over the balls of her feet, so she could spin on varied surfaces without discomfort….or splinters. As the woman at the piano practiced quietly, familiarizing herself with the music, Adeline unknotted the sash tied loosely at her waist, and turned her back to the audience, dropping it past her shoulders and down past her thighs, snapping it up in her left hand before hurrying stage right to toss her robe over a crate. As she returned to center stage, the woman at the piano called to her.

"This tempo all right?"

"Yes," Adeline said, turning to give her a pleasant smile. "Thank you."

She reached down to the stage floor and retrieved her hoop, and when she rose, she made the mistake of meeting the eyes of the man she assumed they must call Lobster Boy. He had been watching her muscular, pale legs from mid-thigh down, exposed in her short robe, rife with anticipation of seeing what she might be wearing underneath. And he wasn't disappointed when she revealed her costume. The top layer of her leotard was white silk, but it was difficult for anyone to have known such, bedecked as it was with intricate, glamorous beading and sequins in white, clear, silver, and the occasional, strategically placed gold. Strapless, the leotard ended in discreet shorts that carefully covered anything not meant to be seen in public, yet at the same time showed off all that was acceptably displayed in a carnival performance setting. Jimmy's mouth hung slightly open as he sat in his chair slack jawed, his expressive brown eyes roving over Adeline with an innocent wonder that embodied both lust and admiration. He smiled, his lips drawing outward in a lazy grin, governed by the intoxication of genuine attraction. Adeline couldn't help but give a brief, fleeting smile in return, turning around once again, posing with her left hand raised above her head at her side, elbow bent, hoop balanced towards the audience, left hand down by her waist, artfully posed.

She nodded to the woman at the piano, and as her music began, she rose onto the pad of her right foot, spinning around gracefully, lifting her left leg horizontally beside her as she spun. This particular performance she improvised, inspired by whichever tricks she was moved to exhibit, having not performed before an audience in many months, showcasing only a miniscule selection of all she was capable of demonstrating. She dipped her hoop downwards towards the floor in a diagonal direction, following with her opposite leg, landing on her opposite forearm to flip over onto her leading knee and land with her other foot flat on the ground, down on one knee. She rose up again, skipping forward a few steps, and began to spin around on her right foot, raising her hoop high into the air above her, lifting her left leg up to arch it towards her head, using the momentum of her arms as they spun the hoop to keep her body spinning. Between tricks, she peppered in elegant balletic transitions, pointing her toes every moment either her feet were off the floor, using elegant movements to transition from display to display. She proceeded with artful hops and intricate stepping through and about the hoop, and then swung her leg up, dropping the hoop onto her ankle and beginning a spin while she bent forward into a handstand, using gentle rotations of her hip to keep the spin going as she spread elegantly into a horizontal split. She held her pose momentarily, then stepped all the way through, walking over. She began then to exhibit her spinning ability, starting first on her wrist held high in the air, and using her muscles to work the hoop gradually down to her knees, spinning it on various points. She rolled the hoop from one hand across her chest to the other. She spun on one foot in a vertical split, spinning the hoop around her wrist, all the while, whenever possible, holding her hands open to display her webbing. She leapt gracefully in the air, then tossed the hoop towards the peak of the tent, rolling forward in an elegant somersault to catch the hoop on an extended ankle where she continued to spin it around, switching to a wrist as she raised herself back up on her feet, propelling herself powerfully across the stage, leaping up into a split as she passed the hoop beneath herself from one hand to another. For her finish, in a standing position, she rolled the hoop backwards behind her and snatched it up with her left foot, spinning it around her ankle as she rose her leg slowly higher and higher, ending in another vertical split as she leaned forward, pushing her arms back behind her, her fingers spread so her arms appeared like a swan's wings, hoop spinning around her ankle above her. She tossed the hoop off her foot and forward, bending her knee to form an attractive arc as the hoop flew in front of her. She caught it with her hand and spun around gracefully once more, her leg out beside her. Then, as her music stopped, she held the hoop out beside her in one hand, and took her bow.

Adeline was prepared to be stared at by a stone-faced troupe. What she as not prepared for was the enthusiasm of the first feedback she received, in the form of the Lobster Boy leaping to his feet.

"Bravo!" he shouted, smiling and spiritedly clapping his hands. Adeline smiled, tightly, tremendously appreciative of the applause and the praise, but concerned about Elsa's response, as it was clearly she who controlled Adeline's fate, and, as was likely Elsa's intention, Adeline could not read the expression on her face. The others in the tent had begun clapping politely, and the giantess and the tiny woman were actually smiling at Adeline, friendly expressions which she gladly returned.

Elsa rose from her seat abruptly, stubbing out her cigarette in an ashtray beside her on the dirt floor of the tent.

"Come!" she demanded. "We will speak privately!"

Hastily, Adeline retrieved her robe and put it back on. She stuffed her half shoes back into her pocket, and with thanks to the piano player, she fetched her music and her hoop. She jumped off the stage and grabbed her banner from the chair where she'd been seated, and rushed after Elsa, who had breezed efficiently through the tent and was on her way, not intending to wait for anyone. Ethel watched her friend saunter out of the tent, certain Elsa would offer her a job, but uncertain what exactly their conversation would entail.

The first words out of Elsa's mouth when the two sat across from one another in the headliner's tent, once Elsa had made herself comfortable and had lit a cigarette were

"So. What is your background?"

Adeline took a deep breath, uttering her Uncle's full name, the one under which he was billed and promoted, for the first time in over a year. "Well…you've heard of Sebastian Vestergaard? He went by Kurt in circuit."

Elsa's dramatically penciled eyebrows raised, and she leaned forward, ashing her cigarette into a crystal ashtray. "_Please. _Go on."

Nearly and hour later, the two had agreed on a contract, and Elsa Mars, who had only just that afternoon complained about the stink of having animal acts on site, had hired Adeline at an acceptable percentage, and had acquired both a Swan and a Lion for her cabinet. Elsa returned from her minibar to the settees opposite one another, holding a glass of schnapps in each hand. One she gave to Adeline, the other she kept for herself. She raised her glass to the younger girl once she was seated.

"Prosit!" Elsa declared.

Adeline raised her glass, grinning at Elsa as she replied, "Zu dir, Dachhimmel!"

Having changed out of her costume and back into the outfit she'd been wearing when she arrived, Jimmy found Adeline unhitching her trailers from her pickup truck. Her head was bowed, but she turned to raise her eyes to him when she heard his voice

"Hey!" he called.

"Hi!" Adeline said. Finished, she stood up, wiping her hands on a rag hanging out of her back pocket.

"So you're joining the show huh?" Jimmy asked.

Adeline nodded. "Yes."

Jimmy raised his eyebrows, and one side of his mouth in a smirk "I can see why, that was one _hell _of a performance in there!"

Adeline smiled at him, stepping up on the running board of her truck to put the rag back in utility box she kept in the truck bed. Then she came around to stand near him once again, meeting him where he had followed her to the back of the truck.

"Thank you."

"I'm Jimmy. Jimmy Darling." He put out his hand, and his chest swelled with pride….and perhaps….affection…when she extended her own and shook his, grasping it firmly and without hesitation, looking not at down at his deformity but straight into his eyes. He realized she must have been taught at a young age to take pride in herself, and he liked that.

"Adeline…Vestergaard." Her surname sounded familiar to Jimmy, but he wasn't certain why.

Jimmy did not let go. He held her hand, gently, but with assurance.

"Lobster Boy," he said, chuckling, and holding the smile when he stopped laughing.

Adeline laughed, too, and her voice was soft and lyrical when she replied "Swan Girl."

He finally let go, reluctantly. "Well, welcome."

"Thank You," Adeline said, with another smile. She put her hands in her jean pockets, rolling the toes of her black and white saddle oxford in the dirt.

In the silence, Jimmy saw his opportunity.

"Say, uh, a bunch of us are going into town, there's a diner there….we were gonna have an early dinner on account of the curfew….would you wanna come along?"

Adeline smiled again.

"I'd like to, but I've got something I need to do in town…would it be all right if I followed you?"

Jimmy nodded. "Sure...Maybe next time."

Adeline nodded once, a definite assent. "I'd like that." She paused. "Would you happen to know where in town I might find a butcher shop?"

Jimmy looked puzzled, then recalled the lion dozing nearby in his enclosure. "Yeah, I can point you in that direction when we get there."

Ethel was heading in their direction, calling to Jimmy. He sighed.

"Just a second…Ma needs me."

He jogged over to Ethel, and after a brief conversation came back to Adeline, who had fetched a black cardigan from her caravan, one she was slipping her arms into when Jimmy came back.

"Say, uh, Elsa wants us to hang your banner while we're headed in that direction, you got it handy?"

Adeline nodded, and popped into her caravan. She had two bundles, one with her longer, narrower roadside banner, the other more square shaped, meant to line the walkway up to the entrance along with the others. She held them out to Jimmy. "The red ribbon is the roadside, the white is the entrance. I can help you hang it if-"

Jimmy stopped her, holding up one of his hands. "Nah, we got 'em all rigged, it'll be up in no time. Eve can help me. You be ready to go in about ten minutes?" Jimmy asked.

"I'm ready when you are," Adeline said.

Walking down the streets of Jupiter, dejected, humiliated, and badly beaten after his confrontation with Dell outside the diner, Jimmy spat blood angrily onto the sidewalk. The other freaks had found a roadside spot where they'd gotten food to go, and were seated together parked by a charming vacant lot overgrown with flowers, having a private picnic. Jimmy had elected to go off on his own. He hadn't even realized which direction he was headed until he noticed he was in the area of the butcher shop. Vividly, the sight of Adeline's banner flashed in his mind. Painted in the bottom right corner was the face of her handsome lion, and the painted ribbons decorating the top left corner and bottom right read "The Swan Girl" and "&amp; the King of the Jungle" respectively. The rest of the banner had been taken up by a surprisingly accurate rendering, of Adeline, pictured in a white costume, with her hands fanned open, crossed over her chest, perched on her collarbones. Jimmy was reminded of the image now, and when he looked straight head, still walking, he saw her standing with a burly looking young man in all white, his blood covered apron a most telling garment.

Adeline was pointing to where she wanted the insulated, ice filled crate placed, packed with sixty pounds of meat, had thanked the young man for toting her goods, and was ready to get into her truck when she stopped short in the butcher shop parking lot, seeing Jimmy looking all the worse for wear. Twirling her keys in her hands, Jimmy realized she was wearing white wrist length gloves. Her gloves had individual fingers but were cut so that with her webbing folded one would have to manually examine her hands, or study them very, very closely to notice something was different. He was reminded of his own leather gloves. Adeline pulled them off and tossed them onto the driver's seat through the partially opened window. Then she jogged over to Jimmy, alarmed, and he almost smiled at the way her ponytail swung back and forth behind her as she ran. She stopped short in front of him.

"What the hell happened to you in the last forty five minutes?"

Jimmy groaned. "Our new barker has bite."

Adeline sighed. "Come on."

She walked slowly back with him to her truck, not offering assistance so as to avoid hurting his pride. When he climbed into the passenger's seat, she reached into the crate in the truck bed and pulled out a smaller hunk of ice, taking a clean rag in which to wrap it from the utility box beside the crate. She reached through the window, handing Jimmy the ice. "Here," she said.

In the short time that Adeline's banner had been up, Jimmy was not the only person on whom it had made an impression. Rolling by in her Rolls Royce on her way home from her weekly afternoon card game with her girlfriends from high school was Gloria Mott. She enjoyed the opportunity to drive nearly an hour outside town to Peggy DeWitt's home, to see those friends of hers she had known since their days at the private academy for young ladies of means that they had all attended during the same period. It was a shame Lydia Cushing no longer attended…but she and Gloria had been on strained terms ever since the incident between their children, and when the unspoken impasse had been reached, their mutual friends unanimously chose Gloria. It wasn't something Gloria liked to think about.

But here, as if serendipitously, unmistakably, was the girl on the banner! Gloria had assumed as much when she saw the girl's face, but now, having slowed her car and gotten the chance to view the girl's hands as she collected what appeared to be ice, she was certain of it. Having thought immediately of Dandy when she saw the banner, Gloria did not hesitate, pleased at her remarkable fortune. She pulled her car over. Gloria rolled down her window and turned down her radio, leaning out of the car slightly to call to the girl standing in he parking lot of the butcher shop.

"Excuse me? Miss? Do you give private performances? For children?"

* * *

"Zu dir, Dachhimmel!" translates to "To You, Headliner!"


	3. Chapter 3

Adeline narrowed her eyes a bit in confusion. She had been approached for private performances before, and she had certainly been hailed from cars with all manner of intent, but she had never been in a situation quite like this one. Her banner had been posted less than an hour ago. What sort of town was this? She turned away from Jimmy and headed down the gradual slope of the butcher shop parking lot. Drawing her cardigan in close around her, she crossed her arms under her chest, tucking her hands protectively under her arms.

The driver of the car was elegantly coiffed and impeccably styled, and Adeline wondered how on earth she herself could possibly appeal to someone with such apparent wealth and privilege. Adeline didn't mind being gawked at in context, as part of a troupe of willing performers, but she hesitated whenever she was targeted personally, always questioning why. Maximus, for certain, was a tremendous draw, but this woman certainly seemed affluent enough to be in a position to travel with her child to one of Florida's many zoos to view their entire menagerie up close, not just one big cat. Adeline bent her knees and leaned over a bit, in order to be able to see the woman in the Rolls Royce more clearly.

"Hi," Adeline said. "How might I be of help?"

"You're the girl on the banner, are you not?" the woman asked. Adeline was not at all surprised by her flighty, affected way of speaking.

"Yes. I'm Adeline. I'm…the Swan Girl."

Gloria was tremendously pleased. The girl was even lovelier in person than she was on her banner, and well mannered...for any young lady, not just a carny. Earlier that afternoon she had brought the clown home for Dandy to play with. Shortly after Dandy had gone into the playroom, she had seen the strange fellow hustling down the drive away from the house from the vantage point at her sitting room window, where she had been relaxing before departing for her card game. Before leaving, she had gone to check on Dandy, assuming he had simply become bored with the clown and dismissed him as he had with so many other playmates, but he had been nowhere to be found. Not wishing to keep her friends waiting, and therefore without time to go searching for him, she had driven off, worried but unable to help the situation at the time. Now she hoped to rectify the situation and cheer Dandy up with a second effort towards securing entertainment for him, and she had reason to believe she would have more luck with an apparently experienced performer associated with the freak show…regardless of how regrettable their previous experiences with the outfit had been.

"I'd like to engage your services for a private performance, dear!" Gloria said, an intentional whimsical lightness to her tone.

"My son has been rather melancholy lately and I'm sure he would be delighted to have some entertainment. I would pay you handsomely, of course."

Ordinarily, programmed to promote her troupe and not herself, Adeline would have suggested that the woman and her child attend the show, but due to the curfew that was currently on, she couldn't rightly do that. She had overheard Jimmy and Eve, while they hung her banner, discussing the possibility the strongman had proposed of a run of matinees in the interim, until the curfew was lifted, but with no concrete information to give the woman, she was not comfortable making such a recommendation.

Instead, Adeline smiled pleasantly.

"Well, I have done private performances before, but I am in a rather precarious position."

She watched the woman's face fall, but she continued, not wanting to discourage the possibility entirely. With the curfew on, and the date when performances would resume not established, feeding Maximus could be a challenge without the income that would accompany regular engagements.

"I just signed my contract, which forbids me from performing at other venues, or with other outfits, so I would have to clear with Fraulein Elsa beforehand…" She watched the barely veiled condescending face the woman made when Adeline mentioned Ms. Mars' name, and made note of it. "…but I'd be happy to check with her. The circumstances may be different if the audience is limited and admittance closed."

"I would appreciate it if you would, dear." Gloria replied. "Let me give you my calling card….it has my telephone number….."

She reached over to the seat beside her and began to rummage in her purse. Adeline thought to impress upon her the challenges of transporting Maximus, should Elsa agree to the arrangement, which Adeline suspected she might, once she proactively offered to give Elsa a cut of whatever she might make from the performance.

"I should tell you…. Mam…Maximus can be a challenge to transport…logistically, I mean. He's quite well mannered, though you may prefer an outdoor performance…I can't guarantee his claws won't scratch your floors." Adeline laughed lightheartedly.

"Maximus?" The woman asked.

"My lion." Adeline said. She understood the woman's confusion, seeing as Max was billed only as "The King of the Jungle" on their poster.

"Oh, the lion won't be necessary, dear. He's seen them on safari…now, this is my telephone number…" she held the card, which she had taken out of an ornately decorated gold card case, out to Adeline, pointing with a gloved finger at the exchange on the back.

"You may phone me at home any time, dear."

Adeline sensed an unsettling feeling come over her. She watched the woman ogling her right hand as she reached out for the calling card, taking note of the heavy weight of the cardstock and raised gold lettering on the fine linen paper. Certainly lions on safari weren't tame, or able to be viewed from the same proximity as Max. Maximus provided entertainment but also education, being an observable creature who was at the same time not dangerous. What little boy wouldn't be interested in seeing a lion from only a few feet away, especially if he were the guest of honor and the performance was entirely for him? Little boys were usually the most engaged members of Max's audience, delighting in his impressive leaps and resounding roars.

"How old is your son, Mrs. Mott?" Adeline asked, reading her name off the card.

The woman sighed, with a bit of a forlorn tremor to her voice when she replied "Twenty Eight."

Gloria watched Adeline's face intently. She noticed the brief change in the girl's expression, despite how quickly the girl attempted to compensate by neutralizing her features.

"I'll pay you fifteen hundred dollars!" Gloria added, shrilly.

Adeline was processing what she had heard. She had been envisioning a boy of no more than thirteen, whose primary interest would be in Maximus and his impressive physicality, and in Adeline's deformity as a secondary curiosity. Now it seemed that she was the entire focus of Mrs. Mott's solicitation, and she was trying to think of how to tell her what she needed to before the process went any further, uncertain of how to do so in an inoffensive fashion, in case the woman wasn't seeking her services for something offensive. Her suspicion that she was, however, was heightened by the exorbitant fee Adeline had just been offered. Adeline could use carny terminology to communicate quite plainly, but she was absolutely certain that the woman wouldn't understand if she told her that hers was not a kootch show, and that there would be absolutely no blow off of any kind, or any other services rendered to her adult son. Sensing her distress, Gloria asked

"What is it, dear?"

Adeline sighed "I'm…I just want to be certain that you understand my show is not…it's just a circus act. I provide no other….services."

"Of course not!" Mrs. Mott reassured her. "Dandy is a perfect gentleman."

All right, Adeline thought, just looking, then. She supposed that wasn't so terrible. She smiled at the woman to reassure her.

"I'll speak to Elsa and I will call as soon as I have done so. I have my Pitch Cards with me, if you'd like one…"

She gestured back towards the truck to suggest she could go and get one.

Gloria nodded emphatically, though she had no idea exactly what a Pitch Card was.

"Just a moment, I'll be right back," Adeline said. She hurried back up the hill and Gloria watched her go, thinking Dandy couldn't help but be pleased by the girl. Her hands were quite the deformity, and she imagined it would matter little what the girl did in her performance routine as long as Dandy could admire her abnormality, as he had with those rather disagreeable twins. This young lady was quite pleasant and well spoken, and could certainly make up for whatever debacle had occurred with the clown.

Adeline reached the passenger's seat, Jimmy still sitting there with the window open and the ice pressed to his face. It had not been lost on her when she hustled back up to her pickup that her side mirror had been adjusted and Jimmy's face was clearly visible in its reflection, indicating that he had been watching the entire exchange. She pointed to the glove box.

"Could you reach in there for me?" She asked.

"Yeah….what's she want?" He opened the glove box and several sets of playing card sized stacks, neatly held together with rubber bands, slid down onto the glove box door.

"We'll see…" Adeline said, distracted.

He picked one up, turning the stack over. The photo on it featured five lions posing at varied heights, a tall man in a ringmaster's costume in the center, and two women flanking him in fabulous costumes with feathered trains, showing off their webbed hands. He recognized the one on the left quite clearly as Adeline. The caption read "The Magnificent Vestergaards | Benzini Bros. Carnival."

Embarrassed, Adeline shook her head.

"Oh…not that one. Here…."

She leaned forward and reached for another stack. Not quite able to reach it, Jimmy pinched it between two of his digits for her and lifted it up where she could grasp it. She pulled a card from the stack and tossed it absentmindedly towards the glove box, not wishing to keep the woman waiting. As he collected it for her with the hand not holding his ice, Jimmy paused to look at the photograph. Adeline was pictured in costume, apparently seated, leaning against Max, her hands crossed over her chest the way they were in her banner. Max's face was visible beside hers, his large neck craned so he could face sideways, his blazing gold eyes boring into the camera. The white feather fascinator in Adeline's hair intermingled with his voluminous mane. Jimmy noticed this card simply read "Adeline, The Swan Girl | Maximus, The King of the Jungle," but the close up portrait of Adeline was beautiful, her face tipped slightly upward, her eyes cast to the sky, hands plainly visible. Peeking into the mirror, Jimmy hurried, putting the ice and the towel down on his lap for a moment, hastily pulling another card from the banded stack, which he stuffed in the pocket of his shirt, thankful that the pocket was deep enough that Adeline wouldn't likely see it hidden there. Then he re-arranged the cards and shut the glove box, placing the ice onto his cheek once again, turning his attention back to what was happening in the mirror. He watched Adeline's ample behind as she leaned over to hand the woman the card she had taken with her, and Jimmy felt a surge of frustration and hatred for the rich boy who would probably be doing God knows what with that card once his mother brought it home.

Adeline handed Gloria the card.

"Oh! What a lovely photograph!" Gloria said.

Adeline smiled. "Thank you. I'll phone as soon as I speak to Elsa," she re-iterated.

"Thank you, dear," Gloria replied. She was pleased with the girl's manners.

Adeline backed up back to the curb, and Gloria put her car in gear.

"Ta-ta!" Gloria called, and Adeline waved briefly.

Adeline hurried back up to the truck, Gloria's card tucked into the pocket of her jeans. She jumped in the driver's seat, closing the door, and just sat for a moment. Then she turned to Jimmy.

"I think I was just propositioned by a society matron."

* * *

The name "Benzini Brothers Carnival" is an homage to a famous literary circus.


	4. Chapter 4

Jimmy shook his head, perplexed, his jellyroll hairstyle flopping back and forth on his head.

"Whadda you mean?"

Noting the position of the sun in the sky, and thus reminded of the curfew, Adeline started the truck and put it in gear, turning her head so she could see out the rear window as she released the brake, popped the clutch and backed out, explaining as she drove.

"She wants me to perform a private engagement for her son…and the way she spoke about him, I was picturing a little boy…but apparently he's 28 years old…and they have no interest in the lion act….just me."

Jimmy, appearing disgusted, and reminded of the offer Dandy and his mother had made for the twins, put up his right hand, his left still pressing the ice to his cheek.

"Hold on. We _know_ this broad. And her son. They bought out the show a few nights ago before the curfew started. Afterward, they offered to _buy_ the twins. The girls blew 'em off, of course, but then he shows up again today, wanting to _join_ the show."

Adeline narrowed her eyes as she looked in both directions before pulling out onto the main road. In her lifetime she had witnessed, and indeed herself experienced, a certain amount veiled of fetishism where the deformed or unusual like herself were concerned, and her uncle had occasionally been approached by private collectors offering to pay exorbitant amounts of money both for the privilege of being the first notified in the event a freak passed away, and for the exclusive rights to purchase the freak's corpse itself. These collectors were, of course, emphatically refused and unabashedly informed as to exactly how little her uncle thought of them. More commonly, Adeline had obviously been privy to knowledge of offers made by the management of other troupes or outfits to purchase a freak or performer's contract, in order to secure a new act for their own shows. She had not, however, ever encountered anyone who had attempted to purchase a living human being outright, and the thought was certainly unsettling. It was the knowledge of that offer that caused her the most hesitation. She felt it important to impress upon Jimmy, however, that she certainly was not inexperienced in the politics of professional performance, and was more than capable of handling her own affairs and making her own decisions about her career. She did, nevertheless, appreciate his proactive attempt to protect both her person and her interests.

"It's not as if I haven't done private performances before, but I always had at least four rousties there…for crowd control, and….in case someone were to get fresh" she paused, worry marring her face "….but despite the fact that these were closed events, I was always performing in a venue of some kind. I get the impression she wants me to come to their house."

Jimmy shook his head again, more vehemently this time. "I don't think it's a good idea. That kid is…bad news, at best."

Adeline sighed, not in frustration, or in exasperation with Jimmy, but because she was conflicted.

"Jimmy, she's going to pay me fifteen hundred….if she keeps her word."

She watched him go bug-eyed in the seat beside her, and as he was shaking his head she elucidated what was going through her mind.

"There is $27.60 in meat in that crate back there," She said, pointing to the crate behind them. "That is _three days_ worth of food for Max. I have some funds saved, but… I was counting on steady box office profits, and with the curfew on, I'm faced with...unavoidable uncertainty. I can manage for a while, but I'll swallow my pride if I have to in order to make sure he eats. If I'm at all able, I'd like to whatever I can to avoid calling Vienna."

Jimmy switched the ice over to the other side of his face. "What's in Vienna?" He asked.

"My parents." Adeline responded, with a sigh, keeping her eyes forward. "They moved" _ran away_, she thought bitterly, "when we…when the show….closed."

"Where's everybody else? From the show, I mean?" Jimmy asked.

Adeline bit her lip for a moment, scowling a bit.

"Most of them…are no longer with us. Some are on the lam." She saw no point in being vague, as unprepared as she was to go into complete detail. But she was used to carny culture, in which new troupe mates felt free to ask questions until such a time as they were warned they had gone too far or were prodding too deep.

"And the rest of 'em?"

She appreciated the concern she saw evident in his face when he posed the question. Her voice was lifeless and flat, low, and lacking affect when she replied. "Angola."

Jimmy's look of surprise compelled Adeline to continue. Certainly anyone who had been in the south long enough would be familiar with the more frequently utilized name for the notorious prison farm, used in reference to the town in which it was located. He said nothing, but Adeline felt inclined to inform him that she had not kept anything from Elsa, lest he feel the justifiable need to bring it to her attention. Adeline could empathize completely with the need to protect one's troupe, and she wouldn't blame Jimmy for running off to her as soon as they returned if he believed that Adeline's presence could cause trouble for the outfit.

"Elsa already knows. Please understand that I would never bring a threat along with me in joining an outfit that could put any troupe in peril. There's no one looking for me." As those last words left her mouth, Adeline realized it was true in the sense that she had intended, but also in the sense that she was profoundly alone, and the reminder incited an ache in the hollow place behind her ribs where her family had been. Her carny family, and those who had begotten her.

Relieved, sensing the troupe had enough trouble on its hands as it was, between Jupiter's imposed curfew, Elsa's general unpredictability, and now Dell's appearance, Jimmy relaxed and allowed himself to be interested for the sake of getting to know her rather than for the sake of screening her potential as a hazard.

"What happened?" Jimmy asked, his tone gentle, his eyes soft as her watched her face in profile.

Adeline shook her head, then turned to look over at Jimmy, giving him a tight lipped smile to convey that she wasn't angry, just lacking the energy needed to tackle that topic again so soon.

"Another day."

"Sure, sure,' Jimmy said, waving his free hand dismissively to communicate that she should put his question out of her mind.

Adeline was unaware that her right foot had become heavier on the gas pedal, until she felt the brushing of the curls in her ponytail against the back of her neck as the force of the wind blowing into the open window whipped it around. She was concerned she'd unintentionally been too harsh with Jimmy in closing the topic.

"Besides," she began in a friendly tone, hoping to assuage any concerns.

He turned his attention directly to her again.

"….it's not as if I'd go alone. I'd insist she allow me to bring someone to escort me there and wait outside to be sure everything…. turned out all right."

Jimmy just nodded, saying nothing.

They drove in silence through the emptying Jupiter streets as the sun began to dim in the sky. The quiet, picturesque charm of the quaint little shops and the neatly arranged cookie cutter houses with their matching, manicured lawns masked the sense of collective panic about the place. Suddenly,

She turned the knob on her radio and fiddled with the dial until she heard the animated voice of the reporter discussing the murders in town that had been the curfew's catalyst.

"Jupiter police are working diligently in attempt to identify possible suspects…."

Adeline lightened the mood with a soft giggle "Is it wicked of me that I find all this fascinating?"

Jimmy just chuckled, and gave her a wry, playful smile.

Adeline watched Eve's long, toned arms in her side mirrors, navigating the pickup and the caravan and enclosure behind it into place under her careful direction. They had chosen a strategic location for her trailers, one beside the water, much like the tents, trailers, and caravans of the others, but advantageously close to a large Weeping Poducarpus tree. Adeline, when assigned a spot by Elsa, had explained the crucial nature of choosing a place for Maximus where, should he have the opportunity be tethered outside when not in his enclosure, he might be secured to a large tree. Elsa had been comfortable with this arrangement, happy that it meant any of Max's accompanying scents would not likely waft close to her tent. Had Adeline known this, she would have been offended. She prided herself on the cleanliness and grooming of her companion and the immaculate sanitation of his enclosure. A lion could cool him or herself in one of two ways, by panting or seeking shade. Experts in slumber, it is not uncommon to find a lion sleeping up to twenty hours a day, though Adeline encouraged Maximus to sleep a maximum of sixteen when they were contracted, so they could rehearse, perform, take exercise walks about the fairgrounds, and of course leave him enough time to eat. Her trailer and his enclosure properly arranged, she left to Jimmy the task for which he had volunteered, that of hooking up her electricity and water to the camp's main system, happy to have a chance to interact with Max.

She secured the 1000 foot passing link welded chain around the tree trunk, dragging out the chain, making certain Maximus could comfortably reach the water to lap up the occasional drink when he wished. He could even swim if he so chose, but it was extremely rare that he venture into any body of water of his own volition. He begrudgingly accepted his frequent baths, if only because he had been conditioned and acclimated to doing so as a cub.

Adeline and the rest of her new allies had left him plenty of space when they positioned the two trailered units, so that when he was chained he could return to the inside of his enclosure if he wished without harming himself, or even, should he have the inclination, walk right up the steps of Adeline's caravan and bellow at his colleague within if he were in need of her attention. Adeline imagined he'd spend most of his time napping in the shade of the tree or alternately delightedly clawing and blissfully scratching against its trunk. Her truck parked out of the way, Adeline retrieved his lead and headed back in the direction of the enclosure, smiling at Jimmy laying under her caravan and calling an appreciative "Thanks again!" as she passed by.

She had rolled down one of Max's panels on the outside of his enclosure to block him from the sun, and now she rolled it up, as it was blocking the door. She watched him open his eyes at the sound and raise his brow at her, his massive head lolled to the side on his bed. She opened the door and waited. He stood with a begrudging grunt and padded over to the door, waiting obediently to be given his command. Instead, Adeline stepped forward into the doorway, and he pushed his big face outward and nudged her cheek affectionately. She laughed and then turned her head, pressing her forehead against his as he breathed quietly in her face, reaching both her hands up to each side of his face to give his mane a rumple and a good scratch with her fingernails. He blew out with a soft grumble and she smiled.

"Good Boy." She said softly.

As the sun descended in the sky, strings of electric lights coming to life on the fairgrounds, Jimmy watched with fascination, his work finished, as the girl and her lion made their procession once again, this time, walking a far shorter distance. She picked up the length of chain attached to the tree and replaced the lead line with the one anchored there. "Sit tight." She said to him. Maximus yawned.

Jimmy watched as she walked a short distance, reached into the back of the truck and rifled in the ice crate for an enormous hunk of meat, which she hauled back with two hands, secured in a strong rag. Fascinated, he observed the exchange that followed. Max, who had been circling and sniffing, stopped, and looked up. He could easily have charged her and seized the twenty pound rump roast in her arms. Adeline shifted the meat into one hand, holding it in the rag, and with her left hand flattened out and extended, palm down, she gave a gesture, a gentle glide of her arm downwards, and Maximus lowered himself to the ground, front paws placed before him, back legs tucked behind him.

"Good Boy," she said, authoritatively. She turned to Jimmy, who she had been aware of.

"Let's see if he'll pounce or if he's feeling lazy."

She gripped the meat in both hands, discarding the rag for a moment, and launched it in his direction, watching him politely stand and trot over to begin to gnaw at it, securing it in place with a powerful paw.

"Well," she said. "That was anticlimactic."

Jimmy laughed, and in the darkness, waiting for Adeline's combination refrigerator-freezer to cool down so she could store the meat, they sat side by side on the steps at the back of her caravan, watching the King devour his feast.

As Maximus drank and familiarized himself with his surroundings, Adeline made her way across the fairgrounds, soothed by the familiar luminance of the string lighting, and the red and ivory striped glow from the insides of the big top and the performers' tents. Waiting at a respectful distance, she called through the heavy tarp of the woman's tent, certain she was inside, as she could hear her radio playing, but maintaining her impeccable carny etiquette.

"Fräulein Elsa ? Es ist mir...Adeline. Kann ich mit dir reden?"

From inside, a shuffling about and a sharp cry of "Einen Augenblick!"

And so Adeline waited. When, a few minutes later, she heard the accompanying "Ja, kommen Sie an!", she took a deep breath and ducked into the tent.

Just past nine in the morning, Jimmy admired Adeline from his perch on his motorcycle as she leaned back in the glass phonebooth, absentmindedly rotating one of her ankles in the small glass stall, the receiver clutched between her ear and her shoulder as she waited for a woman she assumed to be the housekeeper to fetch her employer. In her hands, she fiddled with the heavy white calling card, turning it over anxiously in her hands. At the other end of the line, a cheery excited voice bubbled through "Hello?! A-Adeline?"

Adeline placed her foot down, standing upright and pacing a bit, raising her right hand to hold the receiver against her ear.

"Mrs. Mott? Good Morning! I hope you're well?"

"I'm fine, thank you dear, and yourself?"

"I'm quite well, thank you." Adeline paused. "I have approval from Ms. Mars. I'd like to discuss the particulars of my performance…"

* * *

$27.60 in 1952 is the equivalent of about $246.50 in today's dollars.

Most lions in captivity eat around 15 pounds of meat per day, but because he's a performer, Max is fed 20 pounds daily. In today's dollars, feeding Max for a week would cost Adeline around $575.


	5. Chapter 5

"Whoa," Jimmy said, looking up at the Mott home from the driver's seat of Adeline's pickup truck.

"Hey Adda, you think-" Jimmy scowled when he turned to look at her and realized Adeline was no longer sitting in the passenger's seat. She had hopped out of the truck, and by the time Jimmy had registered the click of her door as it shut, she was rummaging around in the truck bed for her things. He got out himself, leaving the door open.

"Coulda waited for me to help you," he grumbled, standing across from her and grabbing the handle on her portable record player, hauling it out.

She tucked her enormous, half circle, flat black velvet sleeve under her arm and picked up her wicker train case with emerald green leather trim, walking around back of the truck to stand next to Jimmy.

"Sorry. I got it." She said, reaching her other hand for the record player.

"Don't you have your hands full?" He asked. What he intended was to walk her to the door, to establish his presence so that those in the house would be aware of it.

"I _said_ I _got_ it!" she said, laughing and jutting her hand out again to emphasize her desire for the record player. He reluctantly handed it over, shaking his head again.

"I still don't like this." He griped.

Adeline smiled, tipping her head to the side empathetically.

"I know, which is why I appreciate your help, despite your reservations."

"I guess I'll go make myself scarce, then," Jimmy said, weakly.

Adeline grimaced. "She said you can park around back. It doesn't matter so much about the truck, she said there are people here for one thing or another all the time, just….stay out of sight, I guess, since he'd know something's up if he sees you. I'm supposed to be a _surprise_." She made a silly shocked face, her mouth a comical O shape.

Jimmy frowned "Where is he, anyway?"

"Barber's, his mother said, and then he usually goes to get something at the candy shop downtown. Enough time for me to set up."

"Jesus," Jimmy said.

Adeline laughed, more at the look of disgust on Jimmy's face than anything else. "See you in three hours?" She asked.

"Yeah, all right. How do I know if you're….in trouble?"

"Stay near the house? I can fill an over packed tent with nothing but the sound my voice, you'll hear me if I'm in trouble." She gave him a reassuring smile.

Jimmy nodded, accepting this. "Okay. Just…be careful?"

Adeline nodded. "Always."

With a last longing glance in her direction, Jimmy got into the truck and turned around the drive, driving the truck down the lane leading back around to the side of the house.

Adeline walked up the few steps to the door, and extended a finger in her white wrist length gloves to ring the doorbell.

When the door opened, a woman in a maid's uniform stood before her, and she labored with the second doors, a set of barred glass ones.

"Much as they may need it, nobody in this house is going to be buying any bibles today, child…"

Adeline was confused. This was the right house, was it not? Perhaps her clothing was misleading. She had chosen an ivory afternoon dress, damask printed in dark navy blue, with a crinoline underneath, and a matching three quarter length navy cardigan. She had worn simple navy ballet flats, and left her hair loosely pinned up in such a way as to allow her to pull the single pin mid-performance and shake out the pin curl waves she had set the night before. She hadn't yet painted on her carnelian lipstick, not wishing to smudge it on her costume or her dress, but certainly her dramatic lashes and black liquid winged eyeliner could have given her away.

The woman's mouth was open as though she were going to continue, when Adeline heard the sound of Mrs. Mott's voice echoing through the foyer behind the atrium outside which Adeline stood.

"Doooraaa!" She called. She fluttered into the atrium in a rather affected manner, but Adeline couldn't help but smile when the woman beamed at her. "This is our _guest_. From the…" she spoke softly "freak show." Gloria turned her attention back to Adeline and Dora stepped out of the way to allow her to enter. "Come in, dear….don't you look _lovely_!"

Adeline followed Gloria as she passed from the atrium into the front hall, speaking to her as they walked.

"Thank you! I brought my costume, so If I could change…"

"Of course, dear!" Gloria replied. "I'll take you straight up to a guest room. This way, please…" She reached out fluidly as they passed by to scoop up a thick, rectangular ivory envelope off of a table accented by an enormous flower arrangement placed in the center.

She followed the woman up the spiral staircase, her heart hammering. Gloria swept down a hallway at one of the landings and breezed through a doorway into an exquisitely decorated, spacious bedroom.

"Here you are. Come and find me when you've finished, and I'll show you to the playroom!" She exclaimed brightly.

"Oh, and this is for you!" She handed Adeline the envelope and the girl took it with a gracious nod.

Adeline placed her things down beside an armchair upholstered in sumptuous fabric and nodded, smiling at Mrs. Mott.

When Gloria had departed, closing the door behind her, Adeline opened the envelope, pulling out a stack of fresh, crisp hundred dollar bills. A little pale blue notecard of heavy linen stock was inside, with simply the words 'Thank You!" written in beautiful script thereupon. She counted softly to herself "1, 2, 3, 4, 5….13, 14, 15…good." She opened and set up her train case on the footrest belonging to the armchair and tucked the envelope into a secret compartment, then set about undressing. Checking to be certain the shades were closed, she removed everything she had been wearing, stockings, garters, and all, arranging them neatly on the armchair. She reached carefully into the train case and pulled out her costume, a stunning, strapless leotard, modestly squared off at the bottom in both the front and the back. The entire piece was lovingly and intricately decorated with patterned beadwork, thousands of gold and white beads covering almost every inch of the gold silk itself. At her hips, hundreds of strings of beads dripped off the costume in varied lengths, ending at the straight hem of the costume at the very top of her thighs. She stepped into it, shimmying it up with a rattle of the beading, and secured her ample chest inside, fastening the corset like straps on the open side that she needed to control her top half while she was performing. She reached down by her hip and zipped up the nearly invisible zipper all the way up her left side, admiring herself in a full-length mirror in the corner of the room, swaying back and forth for the pleasure of watching the beads swing. She found her carnelian lip paint and her brush, and, seated at the vanity in the bedroom, with her right elbow perched on the tabletop to keep it steady, she painted her full lips with practiced precision. She checked her makeup, minimal due to the fact that she wasn't going to be under stage lighting, with the exception of her eyelashes, which she had liberally brushed with mascara. She sighed, a sickening fluttering feeling in her chest, and spoke softly to her reflection. "Showtime."

She made her way back down the stairs, in a pair of ballet slippers and her peach robe, her enormous black velvet sleeve still tucked under her arm, the handle on the portable record player in her hand.

"Mrs. Mott?" She called.

"In here, dear!" Came the call, and Adeline headed in the proper direction. She hurried across the front hall and pushed at a swinging door, finding herself in the prep kitchen. Mrs. Mott was seated at an island, across from the housekeeper, who was frosting cupcakes.

"Would you…approve my costume?" Adeline asked. She felt certain the woman would be honest with her.

"Of course, dear, let's have a look!" Gloria turned to face Adeline, who leaned her velvet sleeve against a marble topped prep table and placed the record player beside it. She dropped the robe, draping it over her forearm as she spun, slowly and self-consciously in place. When she faced them once again, the housekeeper had an alarmed look on her face, her brows halfway up her forehead, her eyes unbelievably wide. Gloria was smiling but looking dazed, and Adeline was ready to panic. All Dandy's mother could think about, looking at the girl, was her dear boy's terrible lack of impulse control, and she was stranded somewhere between pride in believing she had just found Dandy the playmate of his dreams, and the feeling of dread that accompanied her acceptance of the inevitable. She stood, smiling.

"It's perfect! I'll show you to the playroom!"

Adeline hastily threw her robe back on and tucked the sleeve under her arm, snatching up her record player, leaving her robe sash untied as she hurried after Gloria. They arrived at the same landing that the guest room was on, and Gloria turned down a smaller hallway, stopping on her right to push two doors open and glide inside, declaring

"This is Dandy's playroom!"

Adeline looked around, and despite the plethora of stuffed animals arranged here and there, the room looked much like what she had expected…. exercise equipment, a croquet pitch, a pair of chests, and, among other small furnishings, a silk upholstered bench…and a small stage. A little smile played on her face. This would do just fine.

"Do you have everything you need?" Gloria asked hopefully.

Adeline nodded, heading towards one of the mirrored doors by the stage….

"This leads?"

"Oh, up to the stage, of course!" Gloria tittered.

Adeline placed the sleeve atop the stage, and then opened the door, going up the steps and around back stage, easily locating an outlet into which she plugged in the record player, setting it up out of sight behind the curtain, resting the records she had brought with her beside it in a neat pile. She flipped a switch and ducked her head out, happy to see she had turned the floor lights of the stage on. Mrs. Mott was peering up expectantly at her and Adeline smiled.

"I think I'm all right. I'm going to close the curtains and move that bench back towards the pitch so I'll have room on the floor, if that's all right."

"Oh yes, dear, whatever you need. Now, Dandy should be home within the hour and I'll bring him up to see you as soon as he gets home."

Adeline nodded, the knot in her stomach suddenly tightening. "Okay."

As Gloria breezed out, Adeline took of her ballet slippers and her robe and folded it neatly, storing it beside the record player with the slippers in the pocket. Then she took the stairs out to the floor again and closed all the shades, two by two, until the room was in a general state of darkness, with the exception of the lights shining brightly on the stage. She grouped those stuffed animals in the way together in charming groups on either side of the stage, out of the way. She pushed the bench backwards, examining the amount of space she had on the floor. Satisfied, she went back up onto the stage and closed the door behind her. She knelt in front of the velvet sleeve and unzipped it, taking out first a decorated, weighted gold hoop, and then, very carefully, first one half circle feather fan and then the other. All white ostrich wing feathers, they were triple layered for effect. They measured fifty two by twenty eight inches, arranged in a seashell arc, beaded in gold at the center of the flat side where she pinched them in her hands as she moved them. She arranged them the way she'd need them when she went to pick them up in performance, and, taking her hoop and the sleeve with her, went back stage, where she discarded the sleeve and descended the stairs, going to stretch and practice before the guest of honor arrived.

When Adeline heard Gloria's shrill voice, drawing nearer and alternating with that of a young man she assumed must be Dandy, she hurried through the stage door to get into place. Happily settled, she listened carefully to what was being said, attempting to make out the words

"But Dandy, this is different, the person I hired is a professional…. you…"

He burst through the playroom door, nearly shouting, Gloria trailing anxiously behind him.

"I _told_ you, mother, _no more_ supri…" then he saw Adeline"….ses."

She sat at the very center of the stage, one of her legs threaded between the stage lights, the other crossed over it, toes pointed. Each of her hands were flattened on the stage floor on each side of her, her head tipped to the side, pretty face lit by the stage lights.

Adeline couldn't see him very well in the darkness of the playroom, especially with the light in her eyes, and only the peripheral vision of her right eye to rely upon. But she heard the marked change in his voice, now softer, tender, with a hint of wonder about it as he asked

"What's _this_?"

"This is Adeline, darling! She-"

"Get out, mother!" He snapped. "You're…. interrupting us."

Gloria left without a word. Dandy and Adeline were alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Now the centerpiece of the lavish playroom, Adeline could have been any one of Dandy's impeccably crafted toys, remaining entirely motionless, waiting. She concentrated on the dark red of her fingernails, face cast downward, intent upon ignoring him until he sat down on the bench to pay attention. He had stopped beside a mirror against the wall, and while she could not see his face, she was quite aware of his eyes on her and his hands on his hips. Then he was strolling…. prowling, rather, towards the stage. She was aware of a glint out of the corner of her eye as she drew breath in her costume and the beads on her bodice sparkled in the glow of the stage's floor lights. In many a hurricane she had seen the way that tent canvases had of billowing and flapping, and by the sensation she now felt in her chest, she thought her lungs might have looked just the same should someone carve into her chest and cleave apart her ribcage. He had drawn nearer now. Still unable to make out much out of the corner of her eye save for general colors and outlines, Adeline was yet aware of his hands now in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his heels a few times, watching her, seemingly in appraisal. After what seemed to Adeline an eternity, he moseyed over and turned about, seating himself on the bench. It was at this point that Adeline slowly turned her head to face forward and reward him with attention. With a gracious smile and a flutter of her eyelashes, Adeline raised her knees to carefully lift the balls of her feet inside the gold scalloped lip by the lighting and place them on the stage floor in front of her, pushing off to stand upright with practiced fluidity. She was frightfully unnerved. He was terribly, leathally handsome for such a brat. He had been awful to his poor mother in the few short moments she had observed of them together, and she should have been disgusted by that behavior, but she found herself wondering exactly how wonderful he smelled and how soft his cashmere sweater vest would feel against her cheek. She spun, walking the few paces to duck behind the curtain and crouch by her record player.

Dandy had his doubts, at first, that she was real. She hadn't moved at all, it seemed, since he and mother had entered the room. And now that mother was finally gone, he could examine his new playmate. Drawing nearer, he took in every detail. Her ghostly skin looked to him like a doll's…and he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from her perfectly painted pleasantly plump mouth. Such exquisite potential. She had to be real. Her chest was heaving slightly and was she…trembling? How delightful. He sensed that the atmosphere in the playroom was entirely changed. It was not simply the slight rearrangement of the layout, which had not gone unnoticed, and with which he was mildly irritated, but the palpable change in the charge in the air itself. She fit in perfectly with his collection. Where had mother found such a creature? Certainly not at that wretched Freak Show. Mother had said she was going to entertain him. Could it be possible that she was...herself…some kind of freak? Or…a thespian? Dandy had the impression that she was waiting for something. She certainly looked ready to perform. He decided to play along and let her attend to his boredom….if she had any other function than simply looking like something he would readily, permanently possess.

Adeline carefully placed the record, noting the label to be sure it was the correct one.

_"No. 13 V Pas d'action - Second Dance of the Queen (Andante) – Swan Lake"_

She had ten seconds before the track would begin, so she ducked, elegantly, back out onto the stage and avoided Dandy's gaze, kneeling carefully in the center of the stage arc, sitting back on her heels. She breathed in and out a few times, clearing her mind of any lustful thoughts that might have been creeping up in the pit of her belly. She put her hands together in a prayerful pose, tipping them, and her arms, down and to the side so she could lean forward and place her cheek upon them, pretending to have fallen asleep. Then she waited.

This performance was once carefully choreographed under the guidance of her mother, which they had worked on, modified, and perfected over the years, but which she would now alter on her own once again, based on the response she received. She did, after all, have a single audience member. It was an obvious choice, given her deformity. A variation on the Swan Lake story from which the composition came, it depicted Adeline as an adaptation on Princess Odette, awakening to have found herself turned into a "swan," much to her surprise. The feathers she used in tandem with the prominent display of her deformity to suggest those characteristics of a real swan. Her hands were not meant to be noticed by the audience until she herself noticed them, and thus were cleverly disguised in her movements until the moment of revelation. The choreography was designed to be excruciatingly slow, and thus it was not a performance she was always able to give in a packed tent of individuals hoping to experience a lot of action and excitement as part of a ten in one or a complete circus lineup. She was pleased to be able to present it once again.

Dandy had watched with rapt attention…she certainly behaved professionally. Her movements on the stage were practiced, intentional, and fluid. And he couldn't help but smirk, watching the sway of her hips and her bottom in that remarkable costume as she turned away from him. He couldn't remember seeing beadwork like that outside a professional theatre company.

When her music began, Adeline slowly raised her head as though she were awakening, and while she made eye contact with Dandy when she blinked several times, facing forward, she did not acknowledge him in character. She simply raised her hands, balled now in fists, up to her face, partially covering her mouth when she theatrically yawned, raising her fists upward in a languid stretch as she pushed them straight upwards and slowly arced them back down to her sides. She leaned forward and stretched her fists out in front of her, dipping them low, in front of her knees, then spread her fingers out, out of sight. She opened her eyes wide in alarm, looking down at her still obscured hands, and looked up, directly at Dandy, her dark red mouth dropping open in shock.

Dandy suppressed the urge to grin at her and settled for a hint of a smile instead. How charming she was! Cheeky thing. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs and his chin on his hands.

Then she splayed her fingers apart as far as they would stretch and raised her hands in slow, deliberate display, the look on her face one to suggest to him tremendous surprise on her part, as though she had not been looking at this same deformity all her life. Dandy thought his heart would stop. A freak! She rotated her wrists, peering at them from different directions, and then with her first finger and thumb, pinched the webbing between the same digits on her opposite hand, making a show of pulling at the webbing as though challenging its existence. He gulped, his own fingers twitching. He felt himself beginning to perspire. She may as well have been tugging elsewhere, on him, for all the embarrassing the effect it was having. Wicked, naughty thing.

She retained her look of dismay, improvising now with the lights on the stage, holding her hands out directly over two of the lights in front of her, illuminating the webbing so that the delicate skin glowed pink between her fingers. Dandy studied her with heady fascination. He wondered how soft and delicate her webbing might be, what it might feel like to sit with her here on the bench and run his fingers over every single available place on the surface of her hands. She examined them further in character, alternating with different movements and angles of examination, seemingly adjusting to her newfound state. She rolled her hands from wrists to fingers, taking a bit of joy in the elegant movement she created, like wings flapping. Then she acted inspired, as though she'd had a sudden thought. When the composition shifted from harp as the focal point, to solo violin, she turned to look over her right shoulder, hands still up, and drew Dandy's attention, by shifting hers, to the shadows cast on the curtain behind her. She proceeded then to move her hands about in a kind of strange puppet show, alternating and varying her slow, graceful movements to create interesting shapes. Dandy was delighted with her cleverness. A puppet show! How adorable! Projected and magnified, her hands were quite the spectacle, but she conducted their action in such a fashion as to suggest they were to be admired, not gawked at. When the wind instruments came in over the phonograph, Adeline peered down by her sides, seeming now to have only just noticed her feather fans. She reached up and pulled the single pin from her hair, shaking out her voluminous pin curl waves, and Dandy wondered then what that beautiful russet color would look like against the stark white of his silk pillowcases. Her mouth dropped open again, this time in a wide, excited smile, and she met Dandy's eyes once again, raising her eyebrows once, briefly. How he'd like to put her on his lap and squeeze her until she giggled. Or until she gasped and pleaded with him, he couldn't decide. She dropped the pin discreetly to the stage, reminding herself to pick it up later. She reached carefully down to pinch the fans in each hand, spreading her fingers out along the gilded grip section. When the violin returned again, Adeline raised her feather fans, first sweeping the right in front of her face, and then the left, keeping her tempo slow despite the increase of such in the music. As much as her movements were practiced and fluid, she also portrayed a character delighted at having discovered newfound swan wings, which translated in the way she chose to move the fans through the air above and beside her. Dandy was entirely enchanted. He wondered what it might feel like for those feathers to run across his bare skin. Would that saucy little smile appear on her face again, in that moment? When the wind instruments returned again, Adeline raised herself up from her kneeling position, spinning carefully on the ball of one foot, her other leg extended out, toes pointed, as she floated the fans around her with an ethereal quality accentuated by the shadows behind her. The strings returned again, and Adeline began the slow, sensuous movement of the fans in varied directions, a poetic, dreamlike quality to the way she lost herself in her props, accepting them as an extension of herself. Her movements on her feet were balletic, emphasizing slow grace. When the music changed again, the strings and the wind instruments conversed with one another back and forth, and Adeline took this opportunity to play upon her character once more, raising up onto her feet and pulling her fans back behind her to suggest tail feathers, flipping them about in different directions, holding them there for several moments in between, wiggling coquettishly with a hooded, sly glance every now and then over at Dandy. When the music concluded, Adeline lowered herself to the floor again, covering herself with the fans as if folding herself up to sleep beneath her wings. Dandy's mind was racing. How could she be so innocent seeming and alluring at once? And for how long had mother procured her?

All that could be heard was the crackling of the phonograph, and Adeline hopped up again, thinking perhaps she had heard no applause because Dandy was aware she was not yet finished. In reality, he was stunned. He had absorbed as much as he might when she had been in the midst of her performance, and now that she had finished, he was baffled by what he'd seen, here in his very own playroom. Mother wasn't entirely useless, it was now apparent. But he was furious and frustrated that the performance was over. Or was it?

She dropped her fans and switched the record, to one of more up-tempo, traditional circus act pieces, aware of her similar time delay and, snatching up her hoop, hurried down the stairs and out the stage door. As she closed the door, she flipped on the lights by the wall, illuminating the half of the room she and Dandy were in. Adeline did her best not to look directly at Dandy, neither wishing to break her concentration or indicate to him that she found him completely disarming.

Directly in front of him, Dandy couldn't decide where on the girl to look first. Her flawless, freakish hands, the breathtaking symmetric perfection of her uncommonly beautiful face, her fair, unblemished skin, her little red painted toes…. could they webbed too? He satisfied himself by taking in the entirety of her curvaceous shape in her hypnotic costume. It must have been tailored just for her. Did she have others? She must have others.

As her music began, Adeline immediately started to spin the hoop around her right wrist, working up her speed as she worked it down her arm towards her elbow. She threaded her other arm through and spun the hoop faster to gradually move it past her shoulders and chest, down around her waist. She rotated her body slowly as she spun the hoop, aware of the fluid, slightly carnal rolling of her hips and shoulders, and by extension her chest, which she generally attempted not to incorporate into her act. Dandy felt a familiar dampness in his spine, the familiar sensation of sweat beading beneath his shirt. She had far too much power. He was torn between admiration of her supreme talent and anger at her for her effortless ability to have such a profound effect on him. The alternating clatter and arc of her beads as she spun was one of the only sounds in the room. The other was Dandy's intense, labored breathing, of which he was not even slightly aware. In those moments when she did manage to look over at him, she was shocked to encounter a stare so carnal and intense she was surprised her knees had not gone weak. She let her hoop rotate around her hips above the swell of her bottom for far longer than usual, then she gradually worked it down her thighs, spinning he hoop on one thigh as she pulled up her knee and lifted her other leg through, gripping her ankle with her right hand and pulling it upwards to stretch it up by her ear. She released her leg, slowly lowering it behind her. She placed her right foot down behind where the hoop spun, for balance, as she lifted her left leg and rotated the hoop down until she was spinning it on the ankle of her outstretched leg. With a pointed toe, she tossed it up to her left hand, catching it expertly as she positioned it in both hands, spinning on one foot as she lifted her other leg up, bending her knee to steer clear of the hoop's orbit and position her toes inches from the back of her head as she spun several times in place on the ball of her foot. Dandy was absolutely entranced. His imagination was concocting fragmented scenarios inspired by her varied positioning, and he was becoming overwhelmed. Adeline tipped herself forward and hooked the hoop onto her left ankle as she lifted it, placing both hands on the floor in front of her, slowly falling into a horizontal split, legs parallel to the bench as she spun the hoop. She stepped forward with her leading foot, out, and through the split, catching the hoop around her waist with her hands, pulling it upwards, catching the ankle of her back leg inside so she could use the hoop to draw her leg up to her ear. Placing her wrists on opposite inner sides of the hoop, she tipped diagonally forward, rolling the ball of her other foot so she could spin through, stepping out to leave the hoop spinning on one extended wrist. She diverted to some of her more basic tricks, several different artful spins on the balls of her feet while rotating the hoop on a wrist above her head, a toss of the hoop in the air and a roll forward onto the floor culminating in a catch of the hoop on her ankle. Against her better judgment, she remained on the floor. Not terribly useful on stage where she needed to be seen by an audience, Adeline practiced quite a bit on her back to keep her legs limber. She couldn't resist the temptation to look up at Dandy from his position above her and widen her eyes, occasionally granting him several seconds of intense eye contact. She hadn't realized that her lips were slightly parted, her neck tipped back. She spun the hoop on her left ankle, toes pointed, the cold marble of the playroom floor pleasant on her upper back and shoulders. She slowly arched her back, drawing her chest upwards and balancing on her tailbone and the top of her shoulders. Her hair pooled out on the floor around her face, she avoided it when she placed her palms back beside her head, pushing off to raise her bottom and her back off the floor, rising up slowly into a handstand, bending one leg artfully to keep out of the way of the hoop. She separated her legs again, falling into another horizontal split, which she stepped out of, extending the ankle around which the hoop fell so she could start it moving again. She stepped the other foot into the same hoop and began her full body spins again, this time raising the hoop upwards instead of lowering it. As she worked it gradually up her thighs, Adeline improvised. She spread her fingers out again and crossed her hands over one another, running her first fingers and accompanying webbing along her jawline, crossing them over again as she stroked her fingers down her neck, dragging her fingertips over her throat, then down along her collarbones towards her chest, stopping when the heels of her hands reached the top of her bust. By now she'd raised the hoop up around her lower hips, the steady clicking of her costume's beads against the hoop quite audible as she spun faster and faster, winding her core around in circles. She raised her arms up, extending them as far as possible and crossing her wrists, placing her hands palm to palm. She worked the hoop higher. Utilizing mostly her ribs and shoulders, she spun the hoop directly beneath her bust, allowing it to linger and draw attention for a bit, maintaining the roll in her hips all the same. She worked the hoop up her shoulders and arms, allowing it to spin a bit before she dropped one hand and stopped the hoop with the other, gripping it in her left hand to roll it backwards on the floor behind her as she tipped forward, snatching up the hoop with her ankle as she rose the leg upward into a vertical split, her legs a perfect, straight line as she spun the hoop around her foot. As she had for Elsa and the troupe, she pulled her hands back and spread her fingers, flapping her arms slowly like wings. She spun the hoop a while longer, then tossed it forward, catching it in one of her hands. She spun around and faced Dandy, crossing one leg far behind the other as she dipped forward in her bow, drawing her arms out once again like wings, beside her this time, flipping her wrists at the end in flourish.

She heard the enthusiastic applause before she raised her head, and surprisingly, for the first time during their exchange, Adeline blushed. Trained as she had been in stage presence, and drilled in the finer points of shrugging off nerves and apprehension, now that the performance itself had ended, Adeline felt ill equipped to confront whatever had happened during the course of her brief display. That unsettling look on his face…Adeline's exposure to big cats had been extensive….and she could not help but be reminded of those cats she had encountered who had not had the fortune of being raised with discipline and structure. Spoiled, impulsive, vicious animals. She was reminded of a black leopard. The scratching of the needle against her finished record was a welcome excuse and Adeline pointed in the direction of the record player to suggest she was going to address the problem. She hurried off back stage.

Dandy had endured quite enough of her narcotic magnetism without the privlidge of engaging her. Silently, he rose, and, reveling in the prospect, he stood in the stage doorway, out of sight. Thinking she was keeping her host waiting, Adeline discarded her hoop and switched off the record player, turning to rush down back down the stage steps, nearly running right into Dandy. She stopped short, nearly toppling over backwards, and her right hand, webbing exposed through stretched fingers, flew to her heart in tandem with her frightened, audible gasp. Dandy smiled slyly, briefly, for just a moment, thinking if she were his plaything and this exchange a game how he'd like to snatch up both of her wrists and put pressure on them as he gently grasped her blood red bottom lip with his teeth and slowly applied pressure until she yielded with a breathy, desperate whimper.

Instead, he smiled his most charming, cordial smile and, leaning his raised forearm against the doorframe, purred at her "You….are mesmerizing."


	7. Chapter 7

Adeline took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He may have had a certain lecherous element to his demeanor as he watched her perform, and he had certainly startled her, appearing out of nowhere this way, but she found that she was not frightened, standing here, less than two feet from him. Rather, she was exhilarated. She briefly and demurely bowed her head.

"Thank You."

It occurred to her then that despite the fact that she had heard his mother tell Dandy her name, it would be polite to introduce herself. She tentatively put out her hand, palm down, and extended it to him, unsure whether or not he would accept it. She usually only offered her hand when around other show people, as a means of introducing herself or to seal an agreement. But those were business transactions of a sort. Adeline typically avoided offering her deformed hands to anyone outside the circuit if she weren't wearing gloves, as she assumed it would likely startle them, but in this case, he was aware of what she would be presenting to him, and could presumably refuse if he wished.

"I'm Adeline…Vestergaard." She gave him her most friendly and least flirtatious smile.

Dandy was wildly intrigued. Gone was the coquettish temptress and in her place stood a well-mannered seraphic picture, equally captivating. He reached out and took her hand, and as her fingers were closed, Dandy could feel the soft extra skin of the webbing folded between and beneath them. He relished the softness of her hands, and the notion that he was touching her, let alone her freakish deformity, sparked a thrilling tremor throughout his body.

"Dandy," he stated, his voice and his tone gentle and benevolent. He drew her hand deliberately to his lips, running the pad of his thumb across the backs of her fingers. "Mott."

The kiss he gave the back of her hand was delivered with the most intense, beguiling eye contact Adeline had ever experienced. She willed herself not to look away bashfully or break her composure with a flirtatious giggle. There was nothing passing about his introduction. The way his soft lips touched her skin was with a sensation that was feather-light, yet she still felt the strange impression that he was….tasting her. The moment seemed to persist for an inordinate amount of time, and Adeline resisted the urge to shiver as she felt the surface of her skin begin to cool. She realized he was tugging gently on her hand.

"Come," he invited.

She stepped out through the doorway, following as he led her back into the playroom. Still holding her hand, she noted. She was aware of a rather grand pinky ring on his finger. She realized they were standing back before the stage where only moments before she had been playing the part of coy enchantress, but she seemed not to recall having walked those few paces, distracted by the strange rushing in her chest reminiscent of the chaotic, dizzying sensation she felt when she looked into the kaleidoscopes the butchers sold in carnival midways. After a final squeeze, he dropped her hand and spread his hands out before him hospitably. "Welcome."

"Thank you. It was lovely to have been invited." She gave another prim smile.

"You don't have to depart right away, do you?" He asked.

"No, I have some time to spare," she assured him.

"Miss Vestergaard, Do you like cupcakes?" He studied her face, even more beautiful now in the natural light, he thought. Something sweet for something sweet.

"I don't trust anyone who doesn't." She smiled, an easy, natural reaction, not a carefully staged one, and in spite of herself, gave a little laugh.

"Wonderful. Would you excuse me, momentarily? I'll procure us some refreshment."

Adeline nodded. "Of course." He maneuvered around her and was making his way swiftly to the door when he turned, briefly, to call back to her.

"Please, make yourself comfortable in my absence." Dandy invited.

She nodded again, and he pushed through the double doors. Adeline allowed herself to exhale a breath she had not known she was withholding, and intentionally inhaled as deeply as she might, straining against her costume, exhaling with a controlled rush of air from her lungs, deliberately attempting to calm herself. Then she set about putting the room back in order, the way she had found it.

Gloria jumped, the silver teaspoon in her hand clattering to the floor beside her when Dandy burst through the prep kitchen door, sliding across the marble floor in his flat-soled oxfords.

"Dora, I need the white cupcakes with strawberry frosting for my guest. Now. And pink lemonade."

Dora nodded, but scowled as soon as she turned away, muttering under her breath "….no good, spoiled rotten, candy-ass…"

"Dandy!" Gloria interjected, warbling. "Are you having a nice time with Adeline?"

Dandy's face was entirely serious when he faced his mother, his voice low, stern, and insistent. "She's magnificent."

"Oh, how nice, darling!" Gloria warbled.

"And paper straws, Dora!" Dandy snapped.

Dora sneered, griping as she walked away towards the pantry "This little motherfu-"

"When is she coming back?" Dandy asked, attempting to pepper authority into his plea.

"Well, I don't know, darling, we haven't discussed it. Would you like that?" Gloria asked. Her voice was shrill and tremulous.

"I demand it," he declared, his voice icy.

"Very well, I'll arrange something," Gloria replied.

Dora returned, a plate of cupcakes, two dessert plates and twin glasses of iced pink lemonade, with paper straws, on the sterling silver serving tray.

"Took long enough," Dandy grumbled, dragging the tray across the island with him as he departed.

"Good luck getting him to give up that toy…" Dora muttered to Gloria as she fetched the spoon from the floor. "…this could very well be trouble."

Gloria gave a forlorn, defeated sigh. "Unfortunately, I fear you may be right, Dora."

"Mmm" Dora grunted. "When am I not? If he does something to that girl, that's on your conscience, Gloria."

Her voice was far away, her eyes fixated on the ornate, gilded wallpaper, yet focused on nothing at all as her voice left her lips without life behind it "Then let us pray it does not come to that."

When Dandy returned to the playroom, breezing through the still open doors, he did his best not to indicate to Adeline that he had come back, preferring to simply watch her for a bit once more. She was reverently carrying his stuffed lion in her arms. He tipped his head to the side with a tender, sentimental look on his face, a surprisingly satisfying crushing sensation rising in his chest as she placed it back in its proper place at the center of the puppet show stage where she had found it. The remainder of the playroom had been returned to its original state, including the curtains, which had been re-drawn and secured. Dandy thought she might be rather good at anticipating his needs. He reminded himself of his breeding and sniffed, his resolve renewed. He didn't want to overwhelm her just yet.

"Here I am!" he called triumphantly.

Adeline turned to peer at him over her left shoulder, dark lips parting in an easy smile. "I like your lion," she said.

"Oh yes, that's Leo. He's delightful," Dandy agreed.

He placed the tray down in the center of the bench and gestured to Adeline to join him by patting the plaid cushion expectantly. She carefully sat across from him, lifting one of the pillows to place it on her lap. She kept her feet on the floor, both long, smooth legs tucked modestly to one side. She suddenly, now that she was no longer performing and he had returned, felt quite exposed in her costume alone, but her silk robe somehow felt less formal, so she had refrained from putting it back on. While she had considered it for a moment in his absence, she had dared not disappear back to the guest room to change, as she had gathered from her short encounter with Dandy that he was rather intense and may not appreciate her unexplained departure, however brief it might have been.

"Now, wherever did mother find you?...Not at that atrocious Freak Show, I presume." He scoffed.

He plated a cupcake for her, holding out the dish, and Adeline was quite plainly aware of his eyes on her hands. He watched her with fascination as she balanced the plate on her pillow and set to carefully peeling back the baking paper with impeccable neatness. Her dexterity was remarkable, with those hands.

"She saw my banner yesterday afternoon and recognized me in town...although I'm afraid that _is_ my new troupe," she feigned a disappointed, disheartened look and then pursed her lips, failing to suppress her giggle for as long as she would have liked. Dandy's put-out near pout might have driven her to a fit of laughter either way, but she had intended to break the illusion at some point, anyway, to illustrate to him that she was not offended.

He exhaled with a relieved laugh and a scolding shake of his head at her.

"My sincere apologies. It was not my intention to offend, but I can't imagine they could possibly be worthy of you." He watched with barely veiled yearning as she raised the cupcake to her deep red lips and took a neat first bite. He resisted the urge to lick his lips, caught, as he was, mid-sentence.

Adeline was concerned about the outcome of the challenge she was about to issue, but she felt it couldn't be helped. And she couldn't resist the compulsion to tease him. "It seems you found the twins worthy enough."

She took another bite, this one defiant and laced with the flirtatious character of her performance.

His eyes flashed. She had located at least one of his buttons.

"Who told you that?" he demanded.

"Our show-runner." She retorted, a haughty air about her. She thought it best not to mention Jimmy.

She took another bite and Dandy seethed. It took all he had to suppress the urge to tackle her and pin her to the bench beneath him for the purpose of a harsh reprimand. He could stuff that cupcake in her mouth and hold her there until she understood him. He'd never hurt her. Not ever. But he felt he had the right to make himself clear. Then it occurred to him that she might simply be jealous, and he softened.

"Those girls are boring rubes! They couldn't hope to possess a shadow of the beauty before me, even with _two_ heads. And they have no talent!" He snorted.

Adeline smiled. "Forgive me. I was only teasing you."

Dandy forced a laugh. "Well, aside from the…. gossips who seem to be running things over there, how do you like it?"

"I like it well enough thus far. It's only my second day in Jupiter." She looked down at the half eaten cupcake in her hand. "This is amazing."

"You would be better suited to an operation of great renown….in a magnificent tent...surrounded by an adoring audience." His perturbation had disappeared in favor of the opportunity to explore a topic he was fond of.

Adeline stared down at her plate for a moment. "I was, at one time." Her voice, to Dandy, seemed far away.

He set down his plate with a clatter onto the silver tray. Adeline was stunned by how moved he seemed by the subtle change in her demeanor.

"Tell me," he implored, leaning forward across the bench to search her eyes earnestly.

"Are you sure?" Adeline asked, raising her eyebrows, genuinely surprised that he had taken interest.

"Oh yes," Dandy insisted, his voice rising in volume. "I'm fascinated! Please, tell me everything!" Adeline smiled once again; charmed in spite of herself by how emphatically he delivered his entreaty.

"Well, all right. So…I grew up in the show circuit." She watched Dandy's eyes widen with disbelief and excitement, so she continued. "My father finished medical school and came to spend the summer with his brother, who, in the time my father was learning medicine was working his way up the performance ladder."

Dandy was watching her with rapturous attention, and when she paused, he said, nearly impatiently, "Go on."

"I've lived on one lot or another my whole life, and I've been on the stage since I was seven years old. We've been with five major circus outfits since I came along, all of us together, and a few limited carnival engagements. So, I'm primarily a cirky, but I suppose I consider myself a carny as well."

Dandy's prior frustration with her had evaporated, and he found he was studying her legs again.

"Surely you could audition for…_any_ show in operation and be accepted," he replied, taking another, albeit distracted bite of his cupcake.

Adeline flushed, looking down at her plate.

"Well that is a tremendously flattering estimation of my abilities…but I had interests other than mine to consider." Adeline was, as a rule, greatly distressed on occasions when she managed to surprise herself, and she had, in this instance, come upon one of those occasions. She hadn't expected to find him charming, or handsome, or to find herself so at ease with him.

Dandy's brow knitted and a churning, unpleasant dread swilled in the pit of his stomach. He was convinced she referred to some fool of a paramour. No matter, whoever he was could be easily circumvented or disposed of, it would simply be an unpleasant inconvenience should it turn out her affection currently lay elsewhere. He had to inquire.

"Oh? Whose might those have been?" She noted the frost that had crystalized in his voice as he asked his rather contemptuous question. She realized he probably thought she meant a man. A human man. She resisted the urge to laugh, as she suspected, from the way he'd behaved earlier when she mentioned the twins, that he was the kind to fume and erupt and entertain explanation later only if he were feeling magnanimous.

"Maximus. He's my five hundred twenty pound African lion. And my best friend." Adeline gave Dandy a warm smile, as if to reassure him, though she could not have explained, if pressed, why she felt compelled to do so. He felt his heart swell in his chest.

"How did you manage to be in possession of a lion?" his mouth drew apart in an inquisitive grin, beset with awe.

"Well, I raised him. My uncle was an animal trainer, and then also the Equestrian Director of the last two shows we were a part of." A smile was gradually spreading across Adeline's face as her memories flooded back as she recounted them for Dandy.

"When I was eighteen, a litter of cubs was born in his menagerie, and he decided that I was of an age to raise and train my own lion to perform. Under his strict…and _profoundly_ overbearing tutelage, of course." She gave a short laugh to indicate she did not harbor resentment.

"It's part of the reason Elsa's show appealed to me. If I had joined a larger circus outfit like the ones I'm used to I would have had to relinquish my control of his care and training to the master of their menagerie. And I have concerns about how many circus trainers handle their animals. There are many who are quite good, of course, as well, but unfortunately it's difficult to tell until after you've already signed a contract. Being more like a carnival than a circus, Elsa's show allows me to retain control over my act and his." Adeline paused, surprised at herself, and unsure if she had gone too far.

"Why am I telling you all of this?" Her question was mostly to herself, though she spoke it aloud. Dandy decided to answer her anyway, glad for an opportunity for suggestion.

"Perhaps you feel at ease in my presence. I'd like to think so." He blinked at her a few times, a winsome look of suggestion on his face.

"Yes, actually, I…suppose I do." Adeline hoped she didn't sound as surprised to her herself saying so as she was by the revelation itself… "But you must be bored speechless. Your impeccable manners are probably the only element restraining you from asking me to desist."

She took the opportunity to take another bite of her cupcake.

"Not at all. What else?" He asked, with a shake of his head and a nod to continue.

"Hmm?" Adeline asked.

"What else appealed to you? About that…show." Dandy found the look of recognition that crossed Adeline's face utterly endearing, and as she continued he allowed his eyes to rove over her a bit once more, committing her to memory for later.

"Well, many freaks are relegated to 10-in-1s or sideshows, especially when joining a new outfit not in need of new acts for their big top. This way, I can be part of the stage lineup, and I can incorporate Max into my act the way I see fit. Naturally, all the acts need Elsa's approval, but I don't' mind that arrangement."

Dandy nodded. "Well," he began, "regrettable as it is that it may not be the finest operation you've been a part of, I certainly consider it my good fortune that you've come to Jupiter."

"Thank You. It _is_ a small operation. But it's all right, really. I welcome the respite, by comparison. We don't do a full spec, just a preview at the outset and a curtain call, and then of course, individual acts, so it is less work….and less demanding on Max." She finished her cupcake.

"A spec?" Dandy asked, looking puzzled.

"It's at the beginning of the show….the spectacle. We all parade around for the audience in full regalia…" Adeline reached for a glass of pink lemonade, the glass sweating. As she held it in her hand, Dandy watched with veiled lust as she placed her dark red lips around the straw and drew the lemonade up into her mouth. He imagined it spreading across her pink tongue, tart and sweet in the same instant. As she continued, Dandy watched with anticipation as the sweating glass began to run, rivulets of water trickling down towards her hand.

"And everyone cheers…all the children straining to see the animals, all the excited faces, the lights, and the music, and feathers and sequins, fabric, and fur, and sand….all of it churning in this….wild maelstrom of excitement…."

Dandy was tortured by the concentration it took to both focus on the picture she was painting for him in his mind and the water now creeping down her fingers towards her webbing. She suddenly felt the frigid sensation of the frigid water and she gasped, putting down her glass for a moment to wipe her hands on one another.

Dandy was staring openly, his lips parted. He should have offered his handkerchief to her, but he was transfixed. Adeline should have been afraid. It should have been a warning. Instead, tentatively, she reached out, with tentative, elegantly positioned hands, offering them, palms down.

"It's called syndactyly." She stated. She nodded down at her hands and then up at him to reassure him. "You can….if you like," she assured him timidly, certain given the look on his face that he would know exactly what she meant.

Dandy, now unconcerned about conceding his fascination, wiped his hands on his pants and reached out across the bench. When they touched, his eyes fluttered closed for just a moment. Then he opened them to study their hands, together. Palm to palm, he watched her deep red fingernails glide down his fingers, warmth spreading down his arms and through his body with a forceful rush that made his head spin.

Hands in his, her heart hammered, both with the recollection of the sensation she was relating, and the sensation coursing through her now, in pulsing waves.

"The whole tent is just….alive. There's this…current, flowing….through everything. It's a feeling I have never tired of. We all might be confined beneath the canvas of a tent anchored to the ground but everything feels…." Her voice was an ethereal whisper. "…limitless."

"Whyever did you leave?" Dandy asked, his voice a perplexed, detached, gentle murmur. Her fingertips were folded gently to curve over his wrists, and he began arching his fingers to stroke her wrists with his fingertips as he studied the webbing resting on the heel of his hand.

"We had some….a…conflict with the locals at our last location. A series of events…irreversible ones…it destroyed everything." She stopped. "We had to close. It broke my heart." Her voice quavered.

"Adeline…." He sighed her name. "How-"

She protested, her face troubled. "It's…..I'd rather not, just now. I'd hate to spoil our lovely afternoon with such a… depressing topic."

Her expression was apologetic, but no amount of supplication would have changed her mind, even had Dandy pursued it. He chose, instead, to clasp her hands, holding them gently, but firmly. He leaned further forward, looking directly into her eyes, hoping to convey his sincerity.

"I _do_ hope in the future we might enjoy a confidence in which you might share with me _all_ your secrets."

He caressed her hands with the pads of his thumbs.

Adeline flushed, and looked down at their hands together. Just then, the chiming of a grandfather clock in the hall began, and Adeline jumped up. Dandy had been so surprised at her reaction he dropped her hands, and regretted it as soon as he had done so.

"Is it two o'clock already?" She asked, panicked. The tone had ended and now the clock was chiming twice.

"You're leaving? So soon?" Dandy sounded positively dejected.  
"We have a matinee this afternoon. Hopefully only the case until the curfew is lifted." To Adeline's shock, Dandy appeared about to sulk.

"Very well" he sighed ".….I must go and speak with mother. May I help with anything before I depart?"

Adeline shook her head. "No, thank you."

Dandy nodded and was hurrying to the door. "When you are ready, I will see you out!"

"All right," Adeline called, and he was gone.

She dressed carefully, her skin clammy, her teeth chattering. When finally she had put herself back together and her props, train case, and record player in order, she took a last look in the mirror in the guest room and shook her head at herself. Then she swept out of the room and down the hallway. As she descended the curving staircase, floating in her full circle skirt and crinoline despite the burden of all her things, she saw Dandy, standing at the foot of the stairs, leaning casually on the right hand turnout. Adeline was instantly reminded of Rhett Butler's similar pose on the staircase at Twelve Oaks in Gone With the Wind, and she smiled, praying in her distraction that she wouldn't fall and go toppling down the stairs and break her neck.

Dandy was entranced. She was positively exquisite. He could watch her breeze down these stairs towards him every time he called for her and rest in the knowledge that he need never suffer boredom again. He reached out for her train case and her record player.

"Allow me," he insisted.

Adeline reached out, pinning the sleeve with her props under her arm.

As they made their way across the foyer towards the door, Dandy leaned over and said, softly, "You are equally ravishing in conventional attire."

Adeline looked up at him with a flutter of her eyelashes. "Thank You," she said, once more.

Dora had hurried to open the door. Adeline realized, with a hint of concern, that Jimmy was waiting on the front steps expectantly. She was afraid, for a moment, that they were going to have a problem, or a confrontation. But something worse happened. Dandy extended Adeline's things out to Jimmy with hardly a glance in his direction, keeping his eyes on Adeline and a serene look on his face. Dora reached out, and with a smile, Adeline handed her the velvet sleeve with another "thank you."

Dandy turned to face Adeline and leaned down to speak quietly. "Promise me you'll return." His voice was stern, now. It was not a request.

Adeline couldn't see what harm it would do. She likely would be back for one reason or another. "I promise," she said.

Dandy grinned, and then his smile faded slightly. "Very well, I suppose I'll have to patiently await your return."

Adeline bowed her head "Thank you…. for your hospitality, your kind attention….and your pleasant company."

"Good afternoon, Miss Vestergaard."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Mott."

She turned and hurried down the stairs, stopping at the bottom to see Dora, who was waiting for her. As soon as she had turned away towards the car, Dandy had hurried through the atrium and rushed up the stairs, hoping to watch from an advantageous point as the truck pulled away.

"Miss Gloria asked me to give you this," Dora said quietly. She held out another envelope, discreetly, and Adeline took it quickly, aware that the exchange should be brief and as undetectable.

"Thank you," Adeline said.

"You be careful," Dora insisted. She started towards the car, and Adeline called after her. "I will. And thank you, for the cupcakes!"

Dora turned around and nodded, and the look of concern on her face was not lost on Adeline. Jimmy broke her reverie.

"Hey! Ready to go?" He asked. He was holding her door open for her.

"Oh!" she said. "Yes, sorry." She hurried around to the passenger's side and hopped in the truck. With a last, disdainful look up at the house from behind the driver's seat, Jimmy hit the gas and the truck roared away, back down the driveway.

Behind the window in the upstairs study, Dandy stared after the truck, longing, and conspiring.


	8. Chapter 8

As the truck rumbled down the grand drive, Jimmy looked over at Adeline, gauging her emotional state. She was holding the rather large envelope in her lap, and he was distinctly aware that she was looking in the passenger's side mirror, her eyes on the opulent home in their wake, just as his had been on her in the very same mirror the day before.

"Hey!" he interjected, gently.

Adeline whipped her head around, a dazed look on her face. "Hmm?"

"Everything okay?" he asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Oh….yes, fine," Adeline replied. Unconsciously, she picked at the corner of the envelope with her gloved hands, and was reminded of what it was she held. With some difficulty, she tore open the heavy paper, as Jimmy turned out onto the main road.

"It went all right? No problems." The last phrase was a statement, as though Jimmy, in disbelief that it was in fact true, was inviting her to correct him.

Adeline shook her head. She left the envelope, partially opened, in her lap, and replied "None. Promise. There was the usual…heightened interest in my…" she wiggled her gloved hands "…but nothing untoward. He was…very polite."

Jimmy sniffed. "Yeah, I'm sure. Bet you didn't have to say no to him." He noticed the slightly affronted look on her face, her eyebrows raised, her mouth twisted in a slight grimace, and thought then he had made a terrible mistake, but all she asked was

"What exactly do you mean?" more concerned about what he might be suggesting regarding her behavior than what he was projecting onto Dandy.

Jimmy sighed. "Look, I can tell you're a nice girl…and a good person. And you're a professional. Probably more than anyone else we got. Thing is….you also got" Jimmy was attempting to make his point without appearing as jealous of Dandy as he begrudgingly felt, and he widened his eyes and looked down at her figure, scanning up and down to show what he meant, hopefully not appearing too lewd in his choice method of communication "…universal appeal. I don't think he's the type to…come after you, like the rubes might, ya know? More…subtle, more….dicey."

Adeline tipped her head to the side and gave him a doubtful look, clearly unimpressed that he was underestimating her. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Hey, hey….I'm on your side here. I'm just lookin' out for you."

She gave him a gentle, reassuring smile. "I know. You take care of your troupe, and…it's appreciated. Thank you."

"Well….you're welcome," he said, giving her a shy, charming smile.

Adeline set about opening the envelope the rest of the way as they drove through town. When she peeked inside, she immediately recognized something she had expected, and something quite unexpected. She tossed the envelope up on the dash and turned around in her seat to open up the single piece rear window, modified to push upward and outward to allow air to flow into the truck during long drives towing the caravan and the enclosure. She leaned through, reaching for her train case.

"Hey…careful," Jimmy advised, watching her maneuver around, reaching out a protective hand behind her in case he had to stop suddenly.

She grabbed the top handle and dragged it towards her, flipping the latch, and lifted the lid, drawing out the other envelope from its hiding place. She shut the train case and sat back in her seat, retrieving the second envelope. Along with another note from Gloria, more bills. She sat with her head down, counting quietly. Another three hundred dollar bills, and four fifty dollar bills. She sighed and put the envelope down in her lap.

"My God," She exclaimed, clearly shocked.

Jimmy jammed on the breaks, pulling to the side of the road, the tires kicking up a cloud of dust behind them. Adeline jerked back, hitting her seat rather forcefully, and looked over at him, startled.

"She short you?" he raged, indignantly.

"No…" Adeline breathed. "There's two thousand dollars here." She gestured towards both enveloped in the lap of her dress.

"Holy shit," he said. He huffed out a breath of air. "I thought she said fifteen hundred." Adeline carefully pinched Gloria's note between her fingers, unfolding it carefully

"She did. This is…. gratuity, apparently."

As Jimmy, shaking his head, pulled back out onto the road, Adeline took out Gloria's letter and began to read, silently.

Dearest Adeline,

I could neither have dreamt of nor anticipated how tremendously successful your visit with my son would be. I have not in some time seen him so elated. Truth to tell, I cannot recall having ever seen him so exultant. For this, you have my sincere thanks. Please accept this gesture of my profound gratitude.

As I'm sure you can imagine, Dandy and I would be so pleased if you would visit us again. I'd like to invite you to luncheon, at your earliest convenience. You need only telephone to inform me when you wish to attend, and I shall make arrangements. I would much prefer hosting you for dinner, but the curfew has put a damper on my ability to entertain, I'm afraid. Would you do us the honor of joining us? It would be our great pleasure.

All My Very Best,

Gloria Mott

Adeline drew some bills out of one of the envelopes, and extended them discreetly to Jimmy. "With my thanks."

Jimmy took a hand off the wheel and put it up, indicating that he didn't intend to take it.

"Nah, please…" he shook his head at her, waving the hand back and forth dismissively.  
"I was going to anyway," she said. "It's customary, and you know that."

She jutted out her hand again, and Jimmy hesitated. He didn't want to accept money from her for doing something he considered his duty to begin with, especially since, personally, he considered it a demonstration of his desire to keep her safe. All the same, he would be shirking another duty in breaking a tradition unique to their culture, and she was the last person in front of whom he'd want to appear lacking in reverence for their code.

"I'm just going to find a way to hide in your trailer if you refuse me anyway," she continued, still holding out her hand. "Come on."

He could see she was holding two crisp hundreds, folded awkwardly, and he shook his head.

"Too much."

She sighed, exasperated, and put one of them back in her hand, holding out the other.

"Nah," he said. "You got smaller there." He jerked his head towards the stack of bills peeking out of the second envelope in her lap.

Adeline grumbled and put the other hundred back in the pile, holding out a fifty-dollar bill. "You're a pain in the ass, Darling."

"You too, sweetheart." He winked at her, taking the money and putting it in his shirt pocket.

"Very funny," she said quietly, trying not to concede that he was in fact quite amusing. He grinned, chuckling, and shook his head, quite pleased with himself.

They rode on in pleasant silence, back to camp.

In the hours before sunset, after the matinee, Adeline's first performance with Elsa Mars' Cabinet of Curiosities now concluded, the colors began to change in the sky. Adeline sat on the floor of her rather opulent caravan, the long runner rug rolled back, one of the trap doors in the floor open. In going to hide most of the money Gloria had given her, she had become sidetracked from her original mission, which was setting up her living space the way she wanted, replacing items on display she had packed away in order to tow the caravan without them jostling and crashing around. She was now looking through a miscellany of her possessions when she heard the obnoxious varying whine of police sirens, unmistakably heralding the arrival of law enforcement at camp, as indicated by the way the sound grew in intensity and volume. Without hesitation, she hopped up, placing the beaded wolf robe she had taken out, a gift to her Uncle from a Sioux warrior, gently into the storage compartment amongst the rest of her things. She then nestled in beside it three of the scrapbooks she had taken out to examine. Then she shut the trap door, locking it with a master key hanging on a ribbon, and scrambled to her feet to rearrange the rug over it. She mounted the few steps up to the raised platform that held the lavish bed built into the wall, its headboard, footboard, and left bedside flush against the wall, all constructed to feature built in bookshelves rising up to the ceiling. The only exception to the continuous shelving was the cut out space in which the rectangular window at the very back of the caravan was installed. She crossed three paces across the wide platform until she was at her bedside, and knelt on the plush mattress, leaning over to pull a book labeled _Deutsch Märchen _from an inconspicuous place on the shelves. Once it had been a book of German fairytales. Now, damaged some years before and replaced with another volume, it had been modified, the pages glued down and then hollowed out to create a hiding spot. She placed the key inside and shut the book, putting it back carefully. Then she hurried out of her caravan, going to see what the fuss was about, a terrible, tightening sensation settling in her throat. It harkened back to too many things. She heard a distressed shout, and thought that it sounded like Desiree's voice.

Passing between two trailers, Adeline noted there were in fact three police cars on the premises, two plain clothes detectives speaking with Elsa, and several beat cops prowling around in the yard behind the performance tent. Standing back, she watched, and feared a second confrontation between Jimmy and the new barker, Dell, the younger's bruises still fresh on his face.

She heard an authoritative voice shout "Nobody moves a muscle until we search every tent here….**tear this place apart**!"

As the uniformed officers began rifling through trunks and entering trailers, Adeline felt an awful rippling sensation rising in her chest, and found herself anchored to the ground by pride despite the overwhelming impulse to run. Her eyes darted around, searching the dismayed faces of her new allies, uncertain of what exactly she sought. Suddenly, the barking, macho voice of one of the officers caught the attention of all accounted for as he declared "We found it, sir!" followed shortly thereafter by the weak, tremulous protestations of the charming fellow named for the single discernable word he spoke, the simple phrase, "Meep!", which he uttered now in varied, quavering, broken half syllables and whimpers as he was brought to stand beside Elsa. Jimmy, dismayed, turned his face in Adeline's direction in commiseration as she narrowed her eyes at the officers and uttered under her breath in disgust "You can't be _serious_."

A shiny bit of metal sailed through the air, and it was picked off by the suited, smug looking man standing in front of Elsa. He took a look at what he had caught, apparently the evidence he had been searching for. "This is Detective Bunch's badge," the detective imparted.

Adeline, behind Jimmy to his right, was not surprised to hear Elsa say that she was shocked. It was best not to protest in instances where the police were involved, lest the entire troupe be punished for daring to insist upon their rights.

"Take this freak back to the station," the detective instructed in his condescending tone.

In place of the dread Adeline had felt was only disdain and contempt as the meek, gentle creature was lead away to one of the squad cars.

As Dell passed by Jimmy with a defiant glare at the younger man, Adeline sprung into action, jogging over to one of the squad cars, intentionally choosing one that had only uniformed officers inside, and neither Meep nor either of the detectives, both of which had already begun to pull away anyway.

"Excuse me!" she called, lightly, keeping her voice friendly to indicate that she did not mean to cause any trouble. "Excuse me, officers?"

Elsa held Jimmy back by one arm as they watched her approach the car, which lingered, waiting for Adeline to address the driver and the other officer beside him in the car.

"Can we help you, little lady?" the officer driving asked, his voice steely and stern despite the courteous content.

Adeline leaned down, placing her hands on her knees and giving a warm, reserved smile. "Thank you for waiting." She noticed the officer in the passenger's seat couldn't help but give her a little smile in return, leaning forward past his colleague to peer at her. Jimmy had broken away from Elsa and was standing a few yards behind Adeline, his watchful eye on her, his ear tuned to the conversation.

"Could you tell me when arraignments are held, please?" she asked.

"Nine am tomorrow, miss!" the passenger said.

"Thank you," Adeline said, as though it had been a tremendous favor he had done her in answering the question. "And the court house?" She asked.

He gave her a bashful smile, and Adeline ignored the impatient sigh of the driver. "West Palm Beach. Three hundred North Dixie Highway."

"Thanks, gentlemen," she said, backing away from the car, and it roared off almost instantly.

She turned to Jimmy, whose presence she had been aware of out of the corner of her eye.

"What was that about?" he asked.

"If they decide to grant it, we can post bail," she said, searching Jimmy's face to be certain he was on the same page with her.

He was nodding.

"I doubt the judge would do that, where it's a cop involved, but we have to try. And at least we'll have an idea of what he's up against…he seemed so frightened. It may do him some good to see a familiar face or two. There'll be press and everything, I'm sure."

"Sure, yeah, of course, I'll go with you," he said.

"Between what I have, after today, and we can ask Elsa and the others, too, we should have enough… if the judge decides to set bail."

"What're you gonna do, if you have to give up that cash?" He asked, his eyes darting back and forth, focusing on hers but also searching her face.

She shook her head "You get it back when you show up for your court date. And even if I didn't….there's…there's no way he did this. It's the right thing. I can call my parents, in Vienna if it comes down to feeing Max. I'd rather swallow my pride than….I just…I know a thing or two…about this, you know?"

Jimmy nodded again, recalling her mention of Angloa the day before, reaching out to touch Adeline's upper arm briefly, a simple gesture meant to convey how moved he was by the depth and ferocity of her loyalty to a troupe she had only just joined, and the integrity she appeared to posses in general.

"I gotta….I'm gonna take a walk," he said, wracked with guilt over the fact that his plan to rid them of Dell had backfired, and it was his well-intentioned actions that had now been criminally attributed to Meep. Adeline nodded and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder, returning to her spot at camp to check on Max, secured to the tree nearby, and to resume the organization of her caravan, a typical method of distraction she often sought in stressful situations.

Adeline was closing the curtains in her caravan, meaning to change into bedclothes and read for a spell before drifting off to sleep, when Jimmy's tortured, agonized cry ripped through the heavy fabric of night that had settled over the camp like a shroud. She ran to the door and flung it open, standing out on the landing above the steps to listen and be certain she had indeed heard what she thought she had. Looking over to her right she noticed that Max, who had been asleep when last she checked him, had roused himself from his comfortable position under the tree and had stalked forward, his neck craned upwards, mane bristled, his chest puffed out. Then Jimmy howled in agony again and in the few moments that followed, as Adeline squeezed her eyes shut in dismay, and with a renewed sense of dread, she heard Max's reply, a resounding, distressed roar in several bursts of air ushered forth from his lungs. She stood, frozen in apprehension for a moment, before willing herself to move, hurrying back inside her caravan.

"Not _again_," she lamented aloud, "please, not again."

She retrieved the master key from the book of fairytales as quickly as she could and knelt on the floor beside her bed, unlocking the top in a set of storage drawers, the one immediately beneath where she slept, pulling the drawer out carefully despite the urgency she felt. She reached back, deep beneath the box where her mattress lay, and drew out the heavy burgundy velvet pouch, lifting it out and placing it on the bed. Reverently, working slowly, she tugged open the drawstring and carefully drew out the custom white metal Colt M1911 her Uncle Kurt had been given as a gift by a renowned exhibition shooter in one of the first shows he ever worked, a Wild West outfit. He had given it to Adeline on her twentieth birthday. She held it in her right hand and pressed the magazine catch with her thumb, dropping the mag out into her left hand. She checked to be certain the mag was loaded with .45 bullets, and, satisfied, she clicked the magazine back into place. She left the hammer down and elected not to chamber a round, but she tucked the gun into the waistband at the back of her jeans, easily accessible beneath the baggy white sweater that had been her father's. Then she placed the key around her neck and tucked that beneath her sweater as well, hastily locking her caravan door and bolting down the stairs, towards the sound of Jimmy's distress.

Following the sounds, she circumvented the trailers and tents, moving around the yard to flank the big top. She darted around towards the front entrance, weaving around the demon's face, and there she saw her new troupe gathered, standing over Jimmy where he knelt over a humble, diminutive bundle. She cautiously circled about, and her heart plunged towards her knees when she saw Meep's lifeless, blood smeared face peeking out from the top of the swaddling. She closed her eyes and felt her jaw tremble. Then she took off running once again. She had been unaware of her bare footedness as she approached the sound of Jimmy's guttural cries, but now she was distinctly aware of the feeling of the cool, damp earth beneath her feet as she tore through the grass back towards her caravan. Then suddenly, a horrible, sharp impact and she stumbled, cursing aloud, frustrated tears streaming down her cheeks. Not worried about examining her injuries, despite the agonizing throb in her ankle she was vaguely aware of the mallet-split jagged tent stake head she must have collided with, as she hauled herself back up to her feet and continued on her way. She slowed only when she saw Max, standing and waiting patiently, his leonine brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Hey, Bubba…" she said.

She walked deliberately past him over to his tree and sunk down onto the ground, adjusting the pistol at her back so she could lean against the trunk. "come on," she said.

Maximus followed, padding dutifully behind her, and flopped himself down onto the ground beside her, lolling his head into her lap as he generally did when she came to sit with him. She lay her left hand on his shoulder reassuringly, and with her right, she gently stroked his mane from the top of his head back towards his body.

Quietly, she sang, as much to herself as to him,

"_The day is my enemy…..The night my friend…."_ Cole Porter's lyrics leaving her lips effortlessly, their familiarity so deep seated as to not require a bit of thought as they filled her little corner of night beneath the tree with the consoling melody they rode upon.

"_For I'm always so alone…..Till the day draws to an end…"_ She was now aware of a hot, throbbing ache, and of a rather horrible looking gash on her ankle, trickling blood steadily onto the dirt beneath her leg, but she was unconcerned.

"_But when the sun goes down….And the moon comes through…."_ She watched the fireflies dance on the air and concentrated on the rise and fall of Max's chest, and the twitching of his tail on the ground, aware of the gentle rustle of leaves above them.

"_To the monotone of the evening's drone…..I'm all alone…. With you."_

Wishing not to think on the terrible scene she had just beheld, she allowed her mind to drift to the pleasant memories of that morning.

"_All through the night….I delight….in your love….."_

To cupcakes, and blue eyes, to cashmere, and gently stroking fingertips, the memories of which she could conjure so readily and so vividly she gave an involuntary, delighted shiver as she felt the ghost of them against the inside of her wrist.

As Max drifted off to sleep, Adeline's mind wandered places it likely shouldn't, as the words passed through her lips….

"_All through the night, you're so close to me…."_


	9. Chapter 9

Adeline very well could have gone to lunch at the Mott home that very next day, but on Halloween, she preferred to remain with her troupe. For those circles in which she had run, all her life, it was not only tradition to forego performing on Halloween, but also an additional safeguard and display of reverence to choose not to leave the lot for social engagements or pleasurable jaunts on the day.

She had, however, decided to call and accept Gloria's invitation. Just after nine fifteen, she parked her truck beside the phone booth and, with a wince as her ankle throbbed, she hopped down onto the running board and went to the booth, enclosing herself within. As she waited for the operator to make the connection for her, she propped up her leg and examined the bandage she had re-dressed that morning, begrudgingly thinking to herself that her father would be proud of the proficiency in wound care it demonstrated.

A disgruntled sigh followed a forced, feigned sentiment over the line as Dora spoke.

"Mott Residence, Happy Halloween."

Adeline resisted the urge to laugh. She liked the woman a great deal, and appreciated what appeared to be, in their limited interactions, her apparent general lack of pretense.

"Hi Dora, it's Adeline!" she said.

"Oh, Miss Adeline, how you doin'?" Dora was relieved. She could finally answer Gloria in the affirmative when her employer asked her, for what would be the sixth time since she handed the girl the note the day before, if she had called.

As if summoned by mere thought, Dora could hear the clicking of Gloria's heels down the hallway.

"I'm just fine, Dora, and yourself?" Adeline answered.

Gloria fluttered into the kitchen, looking at Dora expectantly.

"Is that Adeline?" she asked.

Adeline could hear her name being spoken in the background.

Dora was surprised the girl had asked after her wellbeing. Instead of deferring to Gloria directly, she nodded at Mrs. Mott to confirm that it was in fact she on the phone, but decided to answer the girl first before turning the phone over.

Gloria clapped her hands together in the meantime, and Adeline could hear her voice echoing through the room at the other end of the line, saying

"Oh, Dandy will be _so_ happy. He's spoken of nothing else since yesterday!"

Those calling for Gloria usually replied that they were fine and proceeded to ask to speak with Mrs. Mott. As far as Dora was concerned, her part of the conversation was not yet concluded.

"I'm doin' all right, thank you." She answered.

"I'm glad to hear," Adeline said. "Might I speak with Mrs. Mott, please?"  
"Yes, she's right here, just a moment." Dora held out the phone and Gloria clicked across the floor to take the receiver.

"Hello, Adeline? Good Morning! Thank you so much for calling!"

Adeline was touched by the apparent enthusiasm in the woman's voice. Had Dandy really displayed that much of an affinity for her in such a short time?

"Hello, Mrs. Mott, how are you this morning?" Adeline asked.

"Oh, I'm quite well, dear, and yourself?" Gloria asked.  
"I'm fine, thank you! I wanted to thank you for your note, and for your invitation, and I was hoping perhaps Sunday might be suitable for lunch, if my notice isn't too short."

"Oh, of course, dear, we would be delighted! Dandy's so very fond of you."

Gloria wondered if the order she had heard her son placing on the phone the afternoon before had arrived yet. Likely not, as Gloria was a frequent customer, and knew that their deliveries began at nine.

Adeline felt her cheeks growing warm. "Thank you for saying so."

"I'll send a car for you, around eleven?" Gloria asked. She wanted to impress upon the girl that convenience was only one of many things they could offer her.

"How kind of you," Adeline said. "That would be just fine."

"Until Sunday, then," Gloria said.

She was relieved to be able to give Dandy good news. She knew how disappointed he would be when she reminded him that his Halloween fun would be curtailed due to the curfew still in place, but she knew that informing him that his new obsession would be arriving the day after next would allay some of his frustration. He had retired back to his playroom after Adeline's departure and come out only to ask his mother for the shop's exchange, and later to sit, restlessly, at the dinner table with her until he had endured enough of the meal to ask to be excused.

Gloria had given him the pitch card then, now that it would not affect the surprise, and she had appraised the expression on her son's face as he longingly studied the photograph printed thereupon, understanding this fixation to be something new entirely. All he had said to Gloria was

"Mother…."

as he looked up at her with a kind of pleading desperation that crushed her heart. Could this girl be what she had dreamed of, for her darling son? She had made so many attempts to introduce him to suitable, aristocratic girls, and had nearly given up hope that he would ever find a woman who could spark his attention or awaken his interest. Could this…. performer…have the patience and compassion to abide his willfulness? To soothe the tortured, turbulent tempest within him? Gloria prayed she could. It had been her greatest hope for Dandy that he might find the perfect companion. That he might know genuine, lasting love, and be genuinely loved in return. She had, in more recent years, been willing to settle for something less, if it meant he might be even slightly happier than the misery he continually displayed. It appeared now that perhaps neither she not her son would have to settle at all.

"Yes, until Sunday. Oh, and Mrs. Mott?" Adeline asked.

"Yes, dear?" Gloria inquired.  
"Happy Halloween."

Skip Winters liked his job as delivery boy. A senior at Jupiter High School, and a responsible student, he had earned the privilege of going to class at eleven, after he delivered his morning arrangements. He had started the job as a freshman, helping out on the weekends, and had gradually worked his way up, adjusting his school schedule so that he could increase his responsibilities. It had helped him afford a car and the extra cash to go out with friends on the weekends, and to save up for college. Besides, he liked the service he performed. He loved seeing the smiles on the faces of recipients who opened their doors to him, and enjoyed the opportunity to brighten someone's day simply by arriving at their office or residence. Today was different. He had been given specific instruction that he was not to leave the show grounds until the very special delivery, on a very important family account, had been made to its recipient. He stood at the entrance to the Freak Show, at the opening of the devil's mouth, his delivery in his hands, his legs quaking in his uniform pants.

"Uhm….Hello?" He called.

He had assumed perhaps someone at the ticket booth might be able to send him in the right direction, but it didn't appear to be open. Neat handwriting on a chalk sandwich board read

"_No Performance October 31__st_

_Happy Halloween!"_

He stepped towards the demon mouth and called again

"Hello! Delivery! From Haverford &amp; Sons! Hello?"

He exhaled, whispering, "Damnit!"

He looked around and noticed that a few dozen yards away, a pair of performers seemed to be frolicking in the tall grass, and were coming in his direction.

"Hello?" He called to them.

Pepper and Salty were trying to catch some of the beautiful yellow moths fluttering about the camp that had captured their attention that morning. Without a net, they were having a great deal of difficulty, but were enjoying themselves all the same. Pepper, hearing a voice, tugged gently on Salty's sleeve and pointed in the direction of the young man standing at the entrance to the big top. Excited, they both galumphed across the empty yard, one of Pepper's hands in Salty's, the other waving at the boy. Leading the duo, Pepper stopped a few yards away from Skip, and following her lead, Salty did the same. Skip was slightly startled by their appearance, but when Pepper smiled sweetly at him, he smiled in return, and said timidly "Hi. I'm uh…here to make a delivery?"

"Fwo-wers!" Pepper cried, pointing at his arms and grinning.

Skip looked down at the bouquet.

"Yes, flowers! Do you know…" in his distress he had already forgotten the recipient's name, quite unusual for him, and he drew out the little pad of paper from his pocket to look at his list

"Adeline Vestergaard? These are for her."

Pepper nodded emphatically. Then a dismayed look crossed her face. She sighed deeply, furrowing her brow, unsure how to explain to the stranger that she had seen Adeline leave not long before. Confused, she scratched at her head. Then she saw the bright blue truck heading across the lot towards Adeline's place on the lot, and she jumped up and down emphatically, flapping her free arm. She pointed in the direction of the truck, and, still holding Salty's hand, took off in its direction.

"Oh, uh….okay….I'll-uh…wait here?" Skip called.

When Adeline parked her truck, she noticed Pepper and Salty hurrying over to her. Stepping out, she smiled at them "Hey, you two!"

"Adda-wyne!" Pepper said, smiling.

She reached out and Adeline took her hand.

"Adda-wyne!" She tugged, gently but earnestly, and Adeline began to follow.

"All right," Adeline said, with a gay laugh, curious to see where they were going.

When they reached the entrance to the big top, Adeline noticed a nervous looking young man in a uniform standing near a big white truck with "Haverford &amp; Sons" printed in pretty scripted lettering on the side. He was holding the most enormous bouquet she had ever seen, cradling it in both of his arms.

"Hi!" She said.

A look of relief passed over his face.

"Adda-Wyne!" Pepper declared proudly, having produced her for the young man.

"Thanks," he said, with a nod at Pepper.

"Miss Vestergaard?" he asked.

"Yes." She replied.

"These are for you…" He held them out, and she was taken aback by the weight of them.

"Thank you so much!" She was overwhelmed.

"Have a wonderful day!" He called, with a small, awkward wave, and hurried back to his truck.

"Fwo-wers!" Pepper said, peeking at the bouquet.

"Yes…..wow," Adeline replied. She was stunned by immense the bundle in her hands. She tipped it towards Pepper and Salty, so they might admire it along with her. She would later count the roses, forty-two in all. The buds, of highest quality and breeding, were the size of apples. They had been arranged in triangular solid colored shapes in groups of seven, the groupings alternating in white and red.

Adeline sighed with a smile of recognition and disbelief. "It looks like a big top," she realized, aloud.

In her caravan, the roses in one of her mother's enormous vases, Adeline sat on the floor and lay across her lap the thick red and white silk ribbons the bouquet had been tied with, and carefully opened the card that had been nestled in the heavy paper wrapping. Savoring each word, she read…

"_For My Dearest Adeline,_

_With My Deepest Admiration and Affection._

_~D.M." _

She exhaled and flopped backwards onto the rug, her eyes cast upward to her elaborately painted ceiling, clutching the note to her chest.

After Meep's funeral, Adeline had returned to the tent with her new troupe mates, and continued the celebration through the afternoon and into the early evening. Now, before bed, she sat leaning against Max's tree, with a blanket around her shoulders and a glass of bourbon by her side. By the light of a lantern next to her, she maintained a family Halloween tradition, reading Washington Irving's _The Legend of Sleepy Hollow _as Max lay a few yards away, lapping at a bowl of rich, creamy milk she had warmed for him.

She thought she could hear music coming from the big top, and she paused to listen, convinced she could hear Elsa's voice, singing. Was the woman completely mad? She shook her head and stood, gathering the lantern, the bourbon, the blanket, and the book in her arms. She walked back to her caravan, mounting the stairs, and, leaving the screen door closed and the heavier wooden door open, she went to sit at the padded bench window seat, blowing out the lantern and leaving it on the floor.

Absorbed in the story, she sat for some time reading the familiar words, sipping at her drink, the pleasant sounds of night drifting through the screen door and the open windows of her caravan, soothing her. When she had reached the place in the story where Ichabod was described as preparing for the merrymaking at the home of Myhneer van Tassel, she became aware of a low, purring growl outside the caravan. She paused to listen, and certain that it was one of Max's threatening sounds and not simply his attempt to frighten away some bird or squirrel he didn't want bothering him, she stood and placed the book down on the bench, hurrying across the floor to the doorway. She pushed through the screen door and stood outside on the landing, straining her eyes in the sparse light that reached her slightly isolated caravan.

Max was standing at attention, his mane bristled as it had been the night before, neck jutted outward to display a face contorted in a menacing grimace, mouth open wide to exhibit his enormous canines. A deep, resounding rumble emanated continuously from his spacious lungs. A warning. His face was rarely this ferocious. She was surprised he hadn't charged given his expression. Adeline turned her attention in the direction of Max's focus. The first thing she noticed was the green haze floating above the ground, drifting in smoky swirls in the dewy grass. Adeline's hand flew up to cover her mouth as she raised her eyes and noted the silhouette of the man who trailed the emerald cloud behind him, his flowing cape, his top hat…the horrid, ancillary face sneering at her from the back of his head…it was him. The legend, the nightmare, the fairytale. Mordrake. Walking…_away_ from her. So that was why Max hadn't attacked him. He was…_leaving_. Gliding across the yard, he had passed by her caravan. She had heard the stories countless times, of how he visited when a carny dared to behave carelessly on Halloween, how his victim was selected from amongst those in a troupe, their sins, their transgressions, their guilt, laid bare. And all would be required, without exception, to give confession. So why had he passed her over? Was she not the most appropriate sacrifice? Was she not stained darkest, was she not the least worthy of being spared? Adeline's vision began to distort, and she grew dizzy, reaching out for the railing on the bannister. She smelled smoke, and heard a familiar splintering and crackling, the deafening roar of the very air on fire, mixed with Max's own as it continued to resound in the dark. She felt terribly warm. Who better to judge her sin? Who better to levy her punishment?

"Wait!" She called, her voice a tremor.

The sounds in her mind, briefly crippling, dissipated.

The figure stopped mid-stride. The low rumbling in Max's throat remained, but all Adeline heard was the rustle of his cape against the grass as Mordrake turned around to face her. His face was as she expected. Familiar, even. Handsome, aristocratic, gentle. He smiled, and in place of the terrible, roasting heat, she felt comforting warmth.

He bowed to her, removing his top hat, and she caught another brief glimpse of the second face at the back of his head.

"My lady…."

The great reverence behind his greeting did nothing to placate her.

"Edward…" she whispered, as if speaking to an old friend. "You've forgotten me."

He walked to her, slow, graceful, deliberate strides, and she again had the sense that he was floating.

"I could never forget you, my treasure," he insisted, his tone compassionate and gentle.

"Then why…" she whimpered, her lower lip trembling.

He had drawn nearer now, without her noticing, and stood at the bottom step of her caravan's staircase.

"Sweet Swan…My fellow aristocrats are always spared," he explained patiently.

"What?" she breathed.

"It is our…" he rolled his eyes slightly upwards, indicating the second face "one, single compromise. The children born to performers are beyond the scope of his reaping. In life, I was begotten of nobility. In death, those begotten of my true family shall receive the honor those who betrayed me never deserved."

Adeline sighed, and her heart began to quiver in its beating as he mounted the stairs towards her. He seemed to move so quickly and yet with such fluidity that he was before her in moments, before she was fully aware that he was approaching, towering over her on the landing in his top hat. She looked up at him, searching his face.

"What if I don't want to stay?" She asked.

Edward reached out with a gentle kid-gloved hand and stroked Adeline's cheek, the way a benevolent older brother might.

"Dear child," he murmured, "it is neither my choice, nor yours." He leaned forward and placed a gentle, chaste kiss on her forehead. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, he was walking away again, across the grass. She ran down the stairs after him.

"Wait!" She called, again, her voice more confident this time.

Once more he turned, whirling around quickly again, but saying nothing.

"Do you know…where he is?" She pleaded.

"You speak now of your uncle." Edward replied.

"Yes…he….he just…disappeared," she said, bewildered. The first time she had said the words aloud.

"Of that, I am aware," he lamented. "Of his whereabouts, I know not." He tipped his hat. "A Good All Hallows Eve to you, dear one."

Adeline's lower lip quavered again, and she nodded, her brow furrowing as she blinked, tears spilling down her cheeks. She sunk to the ground, her face in her hands, and her breath caught in a sob, listening to the padding of Max's giant paws as he drew nearer. She felt the gentle impact as he nudged his giant face against her cheek. She reached up, placing her arms around his neck, struggling to catch her breath as her chest ached, and leaned into his mane, her weeping muffled. When at last she looked up, Mordrake was gone.

Dandy crashed through the forest in his homemade clown costume, his plastic mask replaced by the gruesome, smiling prosthesis hand fashioned by its former owner, Twisty. He was furious. That stupid freak and the bimbo he'd had along with him had completely ruined his Halloween. The stage had been set, the audience captive. He had been prepared to deliver a magnificent performance. And Jimmy, along with those little brats, had destroyed it. Jimmy, who had both insulted and rejected him when he had asked to join the show, and far worse, had only the day before had the audacity to tag along with_ his_ Adeline, to _his_ home, when she was there to serve_ him_ alone. Now, his plans foiled, his Halloween nearly over, Dandy had only one destination, one desire. One single, serene creature upon the entire, vast earth whose presence could possibly ease his torment. Adeline. _His _Adeline. His salvation.

He waked for miles, determined, efficient, through the darkness. Until, finally, he could see the dim, distant glow of the lights from the freak show. It was long after midnight, and the entire lot was silent. He had expected that he may have to search for her caravan, but she was farther from the tents and trailers than they each were from one another, closest to the wood. The lights of the show cast only shadow, far back as she was, and from the direction he had come he needed not search long at all. A blissful, relieved smile passed over his face as he drew closer and could make out the painted banner reading "The Sensational Swan Girl &amp; The King of the Jungle" strung across the lower half of her caravan, nearly brushing against the ground so as not to obstruct her windows.

Dandy approached cautiously, aware that her lion might be anywhere. Several yards from the caravan, however, he could hear a tremendous snoring, and, peering around the corner, he saw the cat laid out on his side, his belly rising and falling evenly as he slept. As quietly as he might, he circled back around to the steps of her caravan, painted all white, as none of the others were. He placed a foot on the first step, watching the lion several yards away to see if he had heard the noise, and seeing that the cat had not stirred, he proceeded up the stairs. He pulled open the screen door, and in the light from the moon cast at this angle, noticed the pair of white swans painted facing one another on the bright green door. He sighed in appreciation of how charming he found the decoration. He somehow knew her door would not be locked to him, and he reached out in his white fingerless gloves to gently turn the doorknob. Pleased when the door opened with ease, he pushed it inwards ever so carefully, hoping she would be asleep.

As the moonlight flooded the caravan, Dandy was impressed by the rather lavish décor within. He looked around, in awe. All the woodwork appeared to be bright, gleaming mahogany, from the little café table in the corner, to the chairs around it, the cabinets on the left hand side making up her little kitchenette, and the luxuriant widow seat on the right hand side. It was rather spacious, and Dandy realized then that it was in fact the full width and two-thirds the length of an average train car. He recalled having read that most circuses transported their setups and their performers on train cars, and it made perfect sense to him then. He could not see much in the darkness and shadow, but as he made his way silently across the beautiful Nain rug, he caught glimpses of photographs everywhere. A teenage Adeline, seated with her legs crossed in the crook of an Elephant's raised trunk. Adeline, casually dressed, beside a kindly looking man in a half buttoned dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up, the handle of a doctor's bag in one of his hands, the other on her left shoulder. Her arm left arm appeared to be about his waist. Adeline again, not looking at the camera, but down at a lion cub in her arms, sitting cross legged on a grassy patch, a bottle tipped upwards in her hand as she fed the little creature she held. Dandy's heart swelled in his chest. In the next photo, a man, seated with one leg crossed horizontally over the other, three of the lions behind him looking away from the camera, two facing it. The entire caravan, filled with photographs like these. Hanging on every wall, nearly covering all the lovely haint blue paint, propped upright on nearly all the available counter and shelving space. Adeline, sitting on a trapeze swing in a tent's theatrical lighting, raised high above the stage, poised with one leg crossed over another, toes pointed, hands encircling the ropes on either side of the swing, enormous ruffled feather train cascading down behind her, her neck and her costume dripping with glittering stones. Photographs that looked to be family photos, casually clothed and costumed, impromptu and posed, groups of cirkies and carnies laughing and smiling, their arms abut one another, in hilarious stances, with comic expressions, and in grand scenes, jumbled together like groups of raucous children, and artfully staged. And glamorous promotional photos, each one more beautiful than the last. His Adeline….was a star. But he had known that from the beginning. As he prowled through her caravan, soundlessly, he absorbed all he could in the sparse light. The soft, white curtains above her farmhouse sink billowed in a gentle breeze from beyond the open window, as did some by a window deeper within. When he reached the end of the rug, Dandy looked up, slowly, and there she was.

At the top of a set of stairs, on a raised platform, was her spacious, rather inviting looking bed, and his beloved, asleep, nestled beneath a generous white down filled duvet. A delicious trembling in his thighs, Dandy raised one foot in his fine oxfords and placed it tentatively on the first step, mounting the stairs at a pace which for him was agonizingly slow. But he could not spoil the moment by waking her. A matching runner rug lay beside the bed, and he stepped carefully onto the carpet, his head tipped downwards and sideways, a look of pure admiration on his face. She lay on her side, her right hand between one of her two enormous pillows, her left beneath the cheek that lay upon the uppermost. Dandy felt his heart swell to the point where it felt his ribs might injure the organ in attempting to contain it. Her comforter was pulled up only to her waist, and Dandy sucked in a ragged breath as his eyes roved hungrily down her figure, her pale mint silk nightgown, thin strapped and bordered in white lace dipped low on her chest, her ample, porcelain pale cleavage plainly visible. He wrenched his eyes away to scan the shelves surrounding her, filled with books of all kinds, and he gazed about in wonder, appreciative of her apparent taste. Then his eyes drifted to the nightstand beside her, and his face broke open in a grin once more, as he noticed the bouquet he had sent her placed thereupon, the little card beside it, facing her, as though she had been reading it just before bed. He sighed, a dreamy, wistful sigh. He crouched, not wishing to wake her, but unable to resist the temptation to assert himself. While he could not fulfill his greatest desire, to climb into the bed beside her, beneath the bedcovers, and enfold her protectively in his arms, and nuzzle gently at her neck, he could risk the faintest touch. He must, so strong and overwhelming the impulse. As she lay, breathing evenly, only feet from his adoring face, Dandy reached out, and ever so softly, in his fingerless gloves, brushed his fingertip along her forehead, hooking a bit of lush, pin curled hair in his finger, drawing it back behind her ear. Then he trailed his finger around beneath her earlobe and followed the line of her jaw to her jugular vein, descending languidly with two of his fingertips, applying just enough pressure to feel her pulse thumping against his skin as he trailed downward, wrenching his hand away with a strangled gasp as he reached her collarbone. He froze as she stirred slightly, tipping her face upwards with a soft sigh.

"Hmm."

Dandy shivered delightfully. However briefly she had felt it, she seemed to long for his touch. Perhaps his Halloween had not been so terrible after all. He allowed himself a few more moments to examine her beautiful face, the shadows in her collarbones, the pattern in which her hair fell across her pillow, the gorgeous deformity of the hand on which her round cheek rested. Then he licked his lips as his gaze dipped lower, studying the gentle rise and fall of her ample chest, his mind flooding with fantasies. He had to tear himself away. He reminded himself that soon she would come to him. That soon, they would never be apart. It was inevitable.

He rose to his feet, and studied her a few moments more, his heart blooming in his chest.

His Adeline. His one and only.

Before he lost the initiative to go, as he knew he must, he hurried through the caravan, locking the door carefully and quietly before seeing himself out, descending the stairs with a satisfied spring in his step as he set out once again, back into the night.


	10. Chapter 10

Dandy Mott was well aware that he'd be seeing Adeline the very next morning, but after feigning regret over, once it had been discovered, his murder of Dora, he had retired back to bed, and later sat out on the west lawn for most of the afternoon. Lounging on an oak chaise with luxuriant silk cushions, he incessantly rolled the hairpin he had found on the puppet show stage between his fingers. It could only belong to her; there were no other possibilities. He'd found it after she left, along with a small tuft of ostrich feather, and together with the pitch card, the three treasures had found a home on his nightstand beside his bed. Each time he rose from his push mattress, the pin was placed in the pocket of whatever garment he would be wearing. Dissatisfied with the notion of waiting another day to see Adeline, as the sun began to set Dandy roused himself from his place of repose under the clear Florida sky, and headed inside to dress, determined to see her. If he were lucky, due to the recent the lift in the curfew, there would be a show that night. If not, no matter, he'd charm her into coming out with him, and he'd buy out the movie theatre, where they'd sit side by side in the darkness, and where perhaps she'd let him hold one of her divine hands. Then he would take her for ice cream in town, where they would sit knee to knee and he'd watch her spoon or slurp some sweet confection past her thick red lips.

Dandy was surprised to observe, when he arrived at the show a few hours later, that cars were lined up in droves all along the dirt path that served as the roadway across the fairgrounds. He had purposefully left his home not long before the performance was slated to start, not wishing to arrive on time, that he might avoid interaction with any of the freaks who had so insulted him upon his first official visit. Also of paramount importance to Dandy was his desire to remain entirely unnoticed by Adeline herself, at least until the performance had concluded, if not to pass in and out of her realm without making her aware of him at all. He had aimed to make his entrance at such a time as the rest of the audience had already taken their seats, when the tent had already gone dark, and it seemed that he would be able to meet that aim, due to the lack of people milling about relative to the number of vehicles in sight. Exiting his Jaguar, he stopped for just a moment, to peer one last time into his side mirror and smooth his hair to his liking. Then he smirked in satisfaction at his own flection, and grasped each of the lapels on his sport coat, tugging gently to be certain the garment was properly draped. Then, with a sauntering swagger, he made his way to the box office.

Adeline sat on a picnic table top, her feet on the bench, waiting patiently with Max, as she listened carefully to the announcements that Jimmy made over the microphone, following along with Elsa's lineup, which she had written on a bit of notebook paper. Unconsciously, she bounced the balls of her feet on the bench, wiggling her knees the way she always did when she was worrying after someone. She had responded to a bit of commotion earlier, when Desiree had been brought, bleeding, by Jimmy, back to the tent yard. When Ethel had offered to bring her to the doctor, ordering Jimmy back on stage to make the announcements, Adeline had offered her truck, parked in an advantageous spot following her morning trip to the butcher shop, and instructed Ethel where to find the keys. Now, she made the determination to focus on the task at hand instead of entertaining thoughts of what might be wrong with Desiree and whether she'd be all right. She peered down at her lion to be certain he was comfortable. Max was rather large to be spending time in the small back stage area, waiting for their turn with so much going on, and in order to keep him happy, and cool, and out of the way, Adeline decided they would wait out back in the yard just beyond the canvas, the big cat stretched out on the ground beside the table, looking regal and unimpressed.

Ignoring the sign which read "SOLD OUT" placed directly over the announcement booth, and the matching sandwich board stating the same, situated in front of the devil's mouth, Dandy strolled inside and drew back the curtain at the end of the small hallway of the devil's throat, peering inside. A rough looking muscled man with sleeves rolled up to his biceps snapped at him, moving his substantial form to block his path.

"Hey! Sign says we're sold out, buddy!" Dell barked.

Dandy held up a soft pink palm, pinky finger weighted with his favorite ruby ring,

"Forgive me," He reached, with the same hand, into his jacket. "I do not require a seat."

Dell's disgusted, irritated face remained in the sneer that had first marred it, until he saw the bills in Dandy's hand as he pulled them from within his sport coat. On the stage, the pinheads tousled in mock combat on stage. Dandy pulled a crisp hundred-dollar bill from within the embellished white gold money clip engraved with his initials. "I'd prefer to stand….below the light tower, if I could. You could keep an eye on me." He offered a friendly expression to show he was not there to make trouble.

Not recognizing Dandy, having not yet joined the show or arrived in Jupiter when he had made his offer for the twins, Dell Toledo thought no harm could come from admitting one more paying customer, especially when he was the only one getting paid, and the bribe itself so sweet. Dell wagged his head back and forth as though he were considering the offer for longer than he had, and took the bill with a feigned reluctance.

"All right. But stay put," he warned.

Dandy bowed his head, and took his place. Standing beneath the light, he imagined, would be perfect, the light itself so bright that he would be obscured in the darkness below it. He turned his attention to the pinheads, acting the fools with one another on stage.

A soft breeze rolled through the lot, and Adeline sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment, enjoying the sensation. She always preferred performing shows at night. The matinee had been an amended performance, an hour long as opposed to one and a half, and Adeline had made the decision to leave Max out of it, with Elsa's permission, due to the heat of the day and the subsequent risk for raising Max's temperature too high. He was due to perform for the Jupiter crowd for the first time that night, and instead of the apprehension and nerves she felt during her audition, she felt the familiar, excited charge that always precluded her stage performances. She brushed at few gnats near the bucket beside her feet, shooting them away from the contents. She should have brought the lid, but there wouldn't be long to wait now. She looked at her list again.

Dandy was watching with vindication as the crowd, which had thus far responded favorably to the other acts, seemed to turn on Elsa Mars, who, incomprehensively, was singing that same song he had heard when last he had visited the show with mother. Then, to his wicked satisfaction, the audience began to throw the contents of their varied paper refreshment bags at the stage. More and more attendees rose from their seats, cupping their hands around their mouths to shout criticisms, tossing handfuls of popcorn. While Dandy, naturally, did not approve of such boorish behavior, he was yet pleased with the fact that Elsa was being given treatment he felt she deserved.

"Shit!" Jimmy exclaimed, watching from the wings. He ran on stage to escort the shaken Elsa off.

Adeline was listening carefully, as she thought she could hear the sounds of an exceedingly disgruntled audience. Tremendously rare in her case, she could nevertheless gauge the tone of the atmosphere in a tent simply by listening outside the canvas. Sure enough, the clamor was rising in volume. Then suddenly, it stopped, and Jimmy's voice boomed over the microphone, something about someone who was going to be "right out." Then suddenly, he appeared in front of her, bursting through the back curtain.

"Go, go, you gotta hurry, they just booed Elsa off the stage, please!" he exclaimed.

Adeline furrowed her brow. "The pinheads come back on next!" Adeline said, lifting up the list. "They do their Punch and Judy and then-"

"No, we gotta get the crowd back. We need something big!" Jimmy pleaded.

Adeline nodded and hopped up, stepping over Max to retrieve his chain.

"Go, go," Jimmy said, "I'll get your bucket." He crinkled his nose a little bit, and resolved not to slosh it around, grabbing it by the fresh white towel hanging off the handle, keeping the cloth free from the contents within.

Adeline affixed Max to a rigging ring mounted to the floor, out of sight, discarding her robe and locating her hoop while the pinheads quickly cleared the debris off the stage. She crouched down beside him and ruffled his mane. "Be good," she said to the lion. "Be ready."

Jimmy, standing beside the curtain, peeked out at the audience and then looked to her. She nodded once to him and he ducked out through the curtain, stepping up to the microphone. She took a deep breath and stood center stage, patting the side of her head to be sure the giant, blood red dahlia she had pinned there was still in place. A little girl from town had given it to her that morning when the townspeople had come to thank Jimmy. Grasping her hoop, she held it out beside her, standing posed, performance-ready.

"Boy-oh-Boy, is our next act really somethin'!" Jimmy announced, grinning as he spoke into the microphone, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. The audience was on edge, he could tell.

Dandy's interest was peaked. Who else could Lobster Boy be speaking of but his Adeline?

"It is with great pride that we present to you a world class performer, and bona-fide third generation freak! Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome The _Sen-sa-tional _Swan Girl!"

Dandy drew in a tremulous breath, straightening his posture in order to prepare himself, his chest beset by a tingling that seemed then to roll throughout his entire body. He had never felt such anticipation, and he couldn't help but notice the twitching in the muscles of his legs, no matter how still he tried to keep his feet.

When the curtain opened, there stood Adeline, resplendent in a beaded costume of sequined white silk with capped sleeves of white feathers, hundreds of thin five inch beaded strands dripping off her hips, stark white skin, blood red nails, gleaming gold hoop.

Dandy's breathed a hopelessly sentimental sigh, his head tipping to the side as he admired her. He was completely besotted. She was entirely radiant.

The crowd had fallen silent. Her music began, and a small smile emerged on her lips. They would not dare to boo her. She would make certain of that. She tossed the hoop effortlessly over her head and caught it with her other hand, and her routine began.

Dandy was tickled to see that there was no evidence of the temptress who had entertained him in his playroom, that she had somehow relegated that portion of her persona to that private, intimate setting. Instead, her act now was fun, impressive, and exciting, but in such a way as to appeal to what he would consider the masses. What they had shared had truly been just for him, and he felt a tremendous sense of pride, both in himself and in her. Her costumes…he assumed they had been made for her. How else could they fit so perfectly? He watched the way she used the stage, her conceptualization of the space, and the expressions on her face. The feeling beneath the tent was nothing like the hostile sourness that had preceded her appearance before this audience. In its place were excitement and wonder. Dandy watched the movements of her body, how graceful and supple she seemed. The lighting, he felt, could have been much improved. The stark white spotlight was lovely on her skin, but had he the opportunity, he would add a tint of gold, to bathe her in richness and suggest the well-deserved opulence that suited a woman of her exceptional rarity. Oh, how he would spoil her! He smiled again, to himself, thinking on his plans.

Nearly as soon as her hoop act had begun, it was ended. Dandy recalled that his private performance had been quite extended, and that regretfully she was only one of many performers in this otherwise underwhelming troupe. When her music stopped, and the crowd began to whistle and cheer, his heart flopped in his chest as she placed one pointed toe out in front of her and raised her hands elegantly above her head, tipping her palms to face the top of the tent, the perfect finish to a triumphant performance. Her smile, he noted, was genuine. She was at ease here, on the stage. And she was happy. He thought then how beautiful he found her happiness, how pure. She bowed forward and swept her hands down and out beside her, flipping the backs of her hands upwards. She smiled once again at her audience and rose back to a standing position, waving here and there to the small children who had been waving at her. When the crowd quieted, Dandy watched her as she addressed them, her voice filling the entire tent, but intimate enough in tone to suggest she was talking to a small group of her friends. Talent, he thought. True talent.

"Ladies and Gen-tle-men! Boys and girls! Welcome, _**Welcome**_ to Elsa Mars' Cabinet of Curiosities! We thank you, wholeheartedly, for joining us this evening!"

More cheers from the crowd. Adeline spied the little girl who had given her the dahlia and caught her eye, turning her head to the side so the child could see the flower mounted there above and behind her ear. The child beamed in recognition, and Adeline winked at her. She began to back up slowly.

"I am fortunate to be the newest member of this fine troupe, and it is now my pleasure to introduce you to someone very near and dear to my heart."

Adeline smiled at the crowd and then looked into the wings, offstage, down at the floor beside Jimmy and then back up to him. He pointed down at the bucket, and she nodded discreetly. He gestured towards the microphone, as though asking if she might want it, and she shook her head, again with discretion. Then she nodded to Eve, who had volunteered for the task, and she pulled the release on the rope tethering the leather loop on Max's chain. Adeline, standing center stage, gave Maximus the signal to come, and he barreled towards her. The crowd gasped and cried out with shock and awe as he appeared, and further so when he seemed not to slow before reaching her. In the last moment, Adeline braced herself, bending her knees as she reached her arms out to receive Max, who leapt up to hug her.

Dandy gasped laughed with delight as she stood firm and wrapped her arms around the enormous lion, and wondered if it were possible for Adeline to be more wonderful. She had the audience in the palm of her hand. Together, they would be unstoppable, he and his Sweet Adeline.

In full view of those in attendance, she placed a giant kiss on the lion's head, and a chorus of giggles, guffaws, and affectionate sounds from the audience accompanied them.

Dandy blinked repeatedly, pouting and murmuring a soft "Awwww," to himself. When Adeline stepped back and Max stepped down, she retrieved his chain, and the two walked side by side towards the front of the stage. Dandy watched the way she moved, impressed by the way she seemed to command the same amount of attention as her rather exotic companion. He was impressed by how healthy and robust the animal looked. Adeline nodded to Jimmy on their way down stage, and he brought the bucket out, leaving it off to the left, as Max stood to Adeline's right.

"Ladies and gentlemen may I present my best friend in all the world! Maximus!" She held out her arms to the side in presentation, and the crowd cheered.

With a simple command from Adeline, Max sat politely back on his haunches. She spoke slowly and carefully, with enthusiasm and animation. Dandy reveled in the sound of her lovely, clear voice, and the way it filled the entire tent.

"Maximus is an African Lion, but he was born right here in the United States! While often referred to as 'King of the Jungle,' lions in Africa tend to live on the plains or in slightly forested areas. Maximus weighs five hundred twenty pounds, but many other lions in captivity weigh considerably more. Lions living in the wild tend to weigh less."

As he always did, with a small, discreet command, Maximus lowered himself onto his belly and gave a tremendous yawn. Adeline tipped her head to the side and gave the audience a sheepish look.

"He's heard this speech before."

Genuine laughter from the crowd. Dandy smirked and huffed out a laugh. Clearly a planned joke, but what an excellent delivery, and what a charming pair they made!

"Lions live around twelve to fourteen years in the wild, but a lion in captivity can live twenty years or more! Max sleeps almost sixteen hours a day! He could sleep more, but we try to keep him awake in order to practice our act so that we can entertain our audience to the best of our ability! You'll notice that while Max does have a lead chain attached to his collar," Adeline raised her arm to show the audience what she meant, "for the most part, I will not have hold of it. He is very well mannered, and I trust him implicitly. You can expect, as members of the audience, to remain perfectly safe throughout the duration of our demonstration."

With that, Adeline gave Max a command, a short lift of her hand, and he rose to stand on all four feet. She gave him another command, a swift movement of her finger, and as she turned to her side, he turned in place to face her.

"Lions have an incredible set of teeth," Adeline said. She placed her hands together and then moved them apart, and Max opened his mouth, displaying his tremendous canines.

"I realize what I am about to do appears terribly unsafe, but remember, I raised Max from a cub, and my rapport with him allows us to interact in unique ways!"

Adeline reached forward and placed her hand into his mouth, the light directly on her webbing as she wiggled her fingers within the massive cavern. Dandy thrilled, watching her place herself in such peril. How fearless she was! Maximus held his mouth steadily open, and as the audience applauded for that display, Adeline removed her hand and leaned forward, sticking her head carefully in Maximus's mouth. Being that she was looking to the audience, she was able to smile brightly with her head still inside, so that the excited gasps quickly turned into sounds of awe and echoes of accompanying applause. Dandy gave a short laugh of disbelief, shaking his head. She removed her head and stepped back.

"Max may be rather large and intimidating, and it is true that lions are ferocious predators. They can run at speeds of up to thirty-five miles an hour if necessary." She gave the command by rolling her flattened palm, and Max dutifully rolled over onto his back, belly exposed, paws flapping upward. She came around to stand behind him, and knelt on the ground next to him.

"But despite their ferocity, and the fact that they are members of the cat family, properly domesticated lions, trained by experienced trainers, are truly quite a bit like big friendly dogs." Adeline reached forward and scratched Max's belly, and he grumbled delightedly. "Max absolutely loves a good belly rub," she said. The audience applauded. Dandy watched her, and thought how happy she looked, on that stage, where she belonged, with all in attendance admiring her.

Adeline stood and gave the rise command again, and Max leapt to his feet.

"Now," she began, "a lion's roar is one of its most distinctive features. A roar can be heard over five miles away, and Max's is quite impressive. I will warn the audience that this portion of our performance can be quite loud."

Adeline gave him the command once more and he turned himself to face the audience. Adeline gave another command, placing her hands together the way she had for the "open mouth" command, but at a different angle, curling her fingers this time, opening her hands again. Max's belly heaved in and out as he alternately drew in breath and blasted out with first one great, resounding roar, following with several others in its wake, in belch-like grumbles. He continued, offering several long, drawn out roars afterward. With one last growling, grumbling sound he concluded, and the audience erupted in applause.

Adeline stepped to the side, heading towards the bucket.

"Next," Adeline began, "I have some special treats that I'd like to offer Max for the following displays."

She crouched down and reached into the bucket, immersing her hand in the thick, syrupy blood, fishing around until she found one of the raw, cut up strips of meat stored within. Dandy strained to watch her, standing up on the balls of his feet and craning his neck to peer over the lip of the stage. He was aware of a large, shining tin bucket. But what might be inside? Then her hand emerged. He felt his breath grow ragged and labored, struggling to draw air into his lungs, as an intense warm, flooding sensation came over him and blood rushed to a specific organ below his belt. Blood. Her fingers, her hands….her glorious, deformed hands, covered in thick, red, blood. It shone on her skin under the lights of the stage, and he staggered back, knocking himself against the lighting tower. He had never felt such rapture. Adeline held the meat over the bucket, and there were some slight reactions of disgust as she allowed the blood to drip down in droplets, waiting for the excess to drain into the bucket before she traveled across the stage with it. Dandy thought how bright it looked against her soft, pale hands. He knew it must belong to some animal, but in his imagination, more real to him, often, than the rational world, it belonged to someone human.

Adeline approached Max, who was licking his lips, cupping her left hand under the right that held the meat aloft. Adeline lifted her hand above her head and gave a verbal command, and Max leapt up, taking the meat that Adeline dropped into his mouth. He landed gracefully on the stage. Dandy's mind was reeling. He would have liked to pay closer attention to the performance she and her fabulous lion were delivering, but he could not tear his eyes away from the sticky liquid rolling lazily down her fingers, her webbing, and her knuckles as she raised her hand. Adeline returned to the bucket to obtain another two pieces of meat, draining them much the same way she had the first. Dandy focused his vision the best he could, taking in the way the rivulets trailed down her webbing, migrating down into the dips of soft flesh between her fingers. He wanted, in that moment, to suck each of her fingers into his mouth, to run his tongue over the thin, elegant webbing. He licked his lips, and chewed at his tongue with his back teeth, steeling himself against the madness he felt coursing through him. What he would soon do with her!

She gave the command and Max backed up, going to face her. She tossed a piece carefully in his direction and he caught it, still standing on all four feet. Next, she tossed another, underhanded, up into the air above him, and he jumped up again as he had earlier, snatching it out of the air. Dandy, meanwhile, was distracted entirely by a now frequent occurrence, the sense of being accosted by alternating flashes of imagery, brief fragments of all the fantasies of he and Adeline that he had conjured in his mind, all the scenes flipping before him as though on stereoscope whose photos were switched with impossible rapidity. Her voice brought him back from his reverie.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, this next trick may not be for those of you who are squeamish, so if you have a distaste for the gruesome, you may want to close your eyes."

She was crouching once more on the floor beside the tin pail and his heart began to race. For a moment, Dandy was furious. How was it she had this power to affect him so? Adeline reached into the bucket again and selected another piece, allowing the blood to trickle down into the pail once more. She carried the strip in the palm of her hand and went back to stand in front of Max. Leaning far forward to avoid besmirching her costume, Adeline lifted the bloodied piece of raw meat and placed one end of the strip between her teeth.

"Adeline," Dandy whispered, softly, placing his hand over his chest. He was overcome. She gave the command and Max jumped up and snatched it directly out of her mouth. Fearless, he thought, again. Those in the crowd who had been watching cried out in shock and surprise, and applauded. When she rose up to stand once more, Dandy allowed a soft moan to escape his throat as she quickly and self consciously wiped at the faintest hint of blood between her lips.

"Now, for our final demonstration," Adeline hated that their act had to be so short, but it was a variety show, after all. "We shall show you all how impressive a lion's jump can be."

Dandy noticed the way she gave her right hand a distinct flick to remove the excess blood from where it had been trailing down her fingers, and it had not been lost on him that a few droplets of spatter landed on her lily white thighs, just above her knees. Adeline moved around and tucked Max's lead chain carefully into his collar so it would not impinge upon his movement and she picked up her hoop. She gave him the command, and he turned around and stood several yards from Adeline, on one end of the stage. With another single command, he charged forward and launched himself into the air, leaping four and a half feet, effortlessly sailing through the hoop and landing on the opposite side. The crowd erupted with applause and Adeline bowed once more. They rose to their feet and cheered, whistling and clapping, and she bowed again, placing a hand over her heart and mouthing "Thank You," to them all, waving with both hands open. They shouted accolades and raised their hands in the air.

They, like Dandy, were transfixed, but unlike the young man standing beneath the lighting tower, they were not obsessed the way he was, and he knew it. They could clap with utmost enthusiasm, and cheer until their throats ached, and leap to their feet for her to show their appreciation, but their affection was shallow. He knew then that no one could ever possibly love her as much as he. With a sigh, and a freshly renewed sense of purpose, felt a sudden burst of energy, and as his Adeline accepted her well-deserved praise, he began a jaunty stroll back to his Jaguar, with a brief nod at the muscled barker as he ducked out.


End file.
